


The Way of the Jedi

by Scribe32oz



Series: Tales of the Republic [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ensemble Cast, F/M, Jedi Knights, Space Battles, Strong Female Characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-02 23:33:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 61,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14556000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scribe32oz/pseuds/Scribe32oz
Summary: One of the last remaining Jedi has chosen to hide on Cordoba, a world on the rim of galactic space, grieving for the loss of a wife and son. With bounty hunters closing in, he is approached by a member of the growing Rebel Alliance with a plea to save one of their own.  Chris Larabee emerges from his self imposed exile to find a new purpose in the crumbling ruins of the Republic.





	1. Cordoba

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: This was written before I was aware Jedis could not marry so consider this canon divergence.

 

The bounty hunter stepped off the rampway of his ship and allowed his cobalt colored eyes to scan the horizon at the city that lay before him. As cities went, this one was hardly impressive. Then again, he had not expected it to be anything else. He stared up at the twin suns and felt its heat burn into his skin but it was not especially uncomfortable. He was accustomed to such temperatures. He had grown up on Tatooine and was used to fighting Tusken Raiders to keep them from destroying the moisture vaporators on the farm he was indentured. A part of him could not imagine growing up in such a place but he had. He was born a slave. He remembered his mother vaguely and since being human was not exactly a valuable commodity in the eyes of a Hutt, he had been sent to work in one of Jabba'smany moisture farms.

Vin Tanner shook his head of such old memories, neither liking nor disliking them. He remained oddly detached about his past, relieved only that his tenure as livestock had ended. The best thing about being stuck out on a moisture farm was that Jabba forgot you existed and eventually, he had learnt how to remove the electronic restraints that kept other slaves trapped in servitude. Removing them allowed him to leave Tatooine forever. Securing the access lock on the main hatch of his ship, the  _Tracker_ , he continued his descent from the ramp and stepped onto the baked earth of Cordoba, the parched world where his latest bounty was presently waiting for him to claim. 

In truth, he would have preferred not to take this job but the men who had come to him had given him little choice in the matter, Find the target or be satisfied with never being able to come near a civilized star system again. Vin did not have much use for people as such but he did not wished to be a marked man and when Imperial agents made such an offer, one did not refuse without very good reason. What he could not understand was why the Empire was not handling this themselves.  

Did they not have agents who knew how to deal with the Jedi? 

For Vin, he hardly even believed the Jedi existed even though, like everyone else, he heard the stories. There was said to be a time when the Jedi ruled supreme throughout the galaxy and they brought peace and justice to many worlds for centuries. A youth growing up in Tatooine as a slave did not have the patience to believe in such tales, for no Jedi ever came to rescue him from his prison and what he achieved, he had done because he decided he would. The galaxy was a hard place and by the time Vin had escaped the desert world to see for himself, the Jedi War had begun. 

It began with the rise of Senator Palpatine to the position of Chancellor in the Republic Senate. Already starting to collapse under its own weight, with the added strife of corruption and too much bureaucracy, Palpatine promised to remove the rot from the Senate. His idealism brought many supporters who believed in the dream of the Republic and wished to see it returned to its former glory. However, Palpatine's words and his true plans bore very little resemblance to each other when the final analysis was done. Once firmly entrenched in position, he established himself as Emperor and though the rumors intimated that he might have been a SithLord, those who attempted to substantiate it did not live long enough to find out the complete truth. The galaxy that Vin Tanner knew was one where the Empire ruled with an iron fist and something as mythical as a Jedi Knight was hunted down and killed by the thousands. 

They say a Jedi lived in Cordoba. Not a Jedi Master but a Jedi Knight of the First Order. The Imperial agents claimed those who came for the man, usually died in the process but should Vin Tanner make the attempt and live, he would be very well compensated for his efforts. Vin had no fears of dying but he could not deny feeling a little superstition at going after a Jedi. The Empire had come to him because he was the best bounty hunter there was. He had learned to track over desert, he had learnt the craft from the Tusken Raiders, the desert warriors who roamed the plains of Tatooine and had accepted him once they discovered he was almost as hardy as they were. It was easy enough to apply the methodology involved to learn how to track over space and other terrain and from the onset of his career, his ability to bring in a bounty was said to be uncanny. 

Still, hunting Jedi was dirty work and if it were not for the fact that his freedom would be in jeopardy, Vin would have turned the Empire down. However, a part of him was also curious to see a Jedi, which was why he had taken his ship and journeyed to the part of the galaxy known as the Territory. Known as such because much of it was uncharted and even beyond the reach of what was considered Imperial boundaries, it was a dangerous place considered to be the galactic wilderness. People who came to Cordoba came to hide and it made sense that if a Jedi wished to lose himself in anonymity when the rest of his kind were being hunted into extinction, this was a good place to do it. 

However, a Jedi could not stay hidden for long and the one he sought, whose wife and child was murdered because the child of Jedi could not be allowed to live to become Jedi themselves, was one of the greatest. The Imperial agents who endowed him with this duty claimed the Jedi was from Alderaan and was a veteran of the Clone Wars, a warrior in every sense of the word. Vin could not imagine a warrior disappearing into the wilderness while the rest of his kind were being murdered, it reeked of cowardice.   

Whatever the reasons, Vin sighed as he left the docking bay and his ship, he supposed he would find out when he finally met Chris Larabee. 

* * *

At the same time Vin Tanner was making his departure from the main space port on Cordoba, former Imperial officer Captain Nathan Jackson was entering the large complex in order to carry out some business of equal importance. Even though his contacts on Alderaan had informed him countless times during the limbo between being told about the mission and carrying it out, that security had been absolutely fool proof, Nathan could not help being apprehensive. With the ashes of the Republic still relatively new, loyalties were indistinct. Some were still dubious that the storm predicted not only by the Jedi before they were wiped out but also by the numerous members of the Senate who were now hiding from the Emperor.  

However, the newly formed Rebel Alliance was not content to wait for the darkness to come. They were already given ringside views on the collapse of the Republic and the establishment of an Emperor, something unheard of in almost ten thousand years of galactic unification. The idea of one man having complete autonomy over trillions of life forms did not bode well for the future. Then there were also the rumors about Palpatine himself and claims that he was that most terrifying of creatures, a Sith Lord. A rumor that seemed to be proven by Palpatine's hatred of the Jedi and his systematic annihilation of all members of that august body.

Nathan remembered seeing the Jedi Council building when he was visiting Coruscant with his father when he was a child. Even though he had sat through the tests and learnt unfortunately he was not Forced adept enough to be one, he always admired the movement. Those who became Jedi had powers beyond comprehension and yet they chose to serve those who did not. Though he was disappointed he was not Jedi, Nathan learnt other ways to defend the weaker and chose a career as a soldier, while at the same time possessing a fascination with the healing arts. Even though he would never be content being anything else, he was mildly surprised at his capacity to tend wounds and diagnose illnesses.

But things had changed considerably now.

Protecting those who were weaker as a soldier was no longer conducive to the current policies of the Empire. While the general population had no idea what was coming at them, the members of the Rebel Alliance through the rogue senators, had some idea of what Palpatine's long term plans for the galaxy involved. Even as he turned his back on Coruscant and his commission, non-human members of the military were being forced out. The policy of segregation though not set in stone was being adopted already. In governmental positions, anyone who was not human was being ejected quietly out of the bureaucracy and their replacements were entirely of human stock.

However, the policy of segregation did not simply involve the removal of non-human races from positions of power but the full implementation was something so horrific that those who heard it could not even begin to imagine it happening. For as long as the Republic lived, its most basic tenet was the inalienable right of all creatures to exist, that sentient beings no matter what shape or form would be afforded equal freedoms in the eyes of the law. Palpatine's policy of segregation would soon change all that. The Empire intended making slavery legal, in particular to non-human species. Already earmarked for annexation was Kashyyyk, the Wookie home world.

The Wookies, a strong, powerful race were slated to become a hard labor work force. Unfortunately, with most worlds relying on what was once the Republic Star Fleet to protect their borders, they would be ill equipped to stop the invasion that would come now it had become the Imperial Fleet. In fact, it would be the Imperial Fleet with its Star Destroyers and legions of Storm Troopers who would most likely take part in the conquest of Kashyyyk and there would be nothing to stop them.

 Except maybe the Rebel Alliance.

 Despite its existence, even Nathan had to admit that the new alliance was in no position to halt a military invasion of that size. The movement was new with its chief benefactor being Alderaan. The manpower and resources required to prevent the military annexation of Kashhyk simply did not exist. As difficult as many members of the Alliance found it to tolerate, they could not intervene. However, despite its fledgling state, the Rebel Alliance was not wasting time. At the moment, it was on a program of consolidating all its personnel and forces. The main rebel base would be located on Datooine for the moment but Mon Mothma, its leader, had decree that it was best to establish resistance cells across the galaxy, scattering their leaders and their forces so that even if one were to fall, the movement would still live.

Which was why Nathan was here at the main spaceport at this time, awaiting the arrival of a small freight ship that would be come from Corellia. He glanced at the chronometer on his wrist and noted that the ship would soon be docking at its appointed berth. Nathan would prefer it to be sooner rather than later. As he navigated through the large facility, he felt a twinge of sadness watching the diverse collection of faces moving through the spaceport, on their way from one destination to the other. Humans, Rodians, the spiritual Ithorians, better known as Hammerheads and even a Jawa, although Nathan had to wonder what a Jawa was doing so far from the Dune Sea.  

The spaceport was the nexus for travel and commercial activity for most of Cordoba. Most travelers to the world did not emerge past this point for the climate beyond was so inhospitable that most prefer to conclude their business and hop the first ship heading out of the system. As he walked past the numerous bars and restaurants, he could see them negotiating with one or another, engaging in all sorts of enterprises, establishing trade talks, selling rancor skin pelts, offering the latest piece of hardware from the core worlds. Despite its out of the way place in the galaxy, Nathan liked Cordoba, he liked its eclectic feel because here most of all was what the Republic had been; infinite diversity in infinite combination.  

Arriving at the docking bay where the ship he awaited was about to arrive, Nathan cast a gaze across the length of the wide corridor he was presently standing within. Although he saw nothing out of the ordinary, he could not shake the feeling that perhaps things were not as benign as they seemed. Imperial spies took many shapes and the person he was meeting was simply too important to the cause to lose at this early juncture in the Rebel movement. He saw peddlers at selling their wares from blankets on the floor to passing travelers, space port maintenance men going about their business and just the general flux of people that seemed to frequent such places. If there was danger here, he did not see it and allowed himself to rest a little easier.

Through the Plexiglas screen that separated the corridor from the docking bay he was waiting at, he saw the ship finally making its arrival. It was an Incom Corsair, more accustomed to ferrying passengers than freight but judging by the accessories attached to its hull, Nathan guessed its pilot had recently spent some credits outfitting it for that purpose. The ship was not exactly new but was no piece of junk either and the custom made turbo engines he spied on it, indicated the ship would give Imperial TIEs a run for its money should it ever need the speed.

The ship called the  _Rogue_ , in Nathan's opinion, reflected the personality of its pilot to a tee. Nathan had decided it would be a prudent safety measure for the person he was meeting to arrive on Cordoba in a private freighter. The pilot knew how to get around custom officials and Nathan trusted the man explicitly. They had served together on the Republic Fleet ship the _Griffin_ and the man was still the best star pilot Nathan had ever seen behind the controls of any ship to date. The  Corellian had retired when Palpatine had come to power, having saved enough away to buy his ship and began his reputation as one of the best freighter captains around.

Nathan watched the Corsair land and looked around once again to see if anything suspicious had appeared since the last two minutes he had looked. He realised he was most likely being a little paranoid but now he was so close to his objective, he did not want anything to go wrong because of his lack of vigilance. When the ship's engines had powered down and the door to the docking bay allowed him entry after deeming it safe, Nathan immediately stepped inside the berth where the ship was housed in time to see the ramp slid open. 

She did not look like he had expected but then Nathan was not certain what he had in mind when he was told that the new leader of the local rebel cell was arriving on Cordoba. Nathan supposed he expected someone older and seasoned, someone who fitted the image of what a commander of an imperial warship ought to look like. For a moment, he simply stared at her and wondered if she was the right person he had been sent to escort back to the secret rebel enclave in this vicinity. Whether or not she minded his scrutiny, she did not say but as she walked down the ramp, her eyes studied him just as closely as he was doing to her. 

She was not very old. Not much more than thirty he suspected. Nathan recalled hearing that she was one of the youngest commanders in the fleet but until he had seen for himself, he had no idea how young. To say she was beautiful would have been a gross understatement, she was  _exceptionally_  beautiful, with long golden hair that hung down her back in a thick braid and blue grey eyes reminding him of a bird's. The long dark robe she wore covered up the rest of her but her movements were graceful and she seemed to glide off the ramp when she approached him. 

"Commander Travis?" Nathan asked, once he remembered his manners. 

"Yes," she nodded with a smile. "You must be Captain Jackson." She extended her hand to him in a friendly handshake, which Nathan immediately accepted. 

"How was your trip?" Nathan inquired, even though he suspected with her looks, it would have been anything but uneventful.  

"Without incident." She said pleasantly. "The choice of pilot was...interesting." A little smile crossed her face as she met his gaze. 

"There is no excuse for him." Nathan apologised automatically. "He is one of the best pilots there is but when it comes to the opposite sex, he has the self control of a five year old." 

"Hey," a decidedlt offended voice exclaimed. "I resent that remark." 

Nathan turned to Buck Wilmington and broke into a grin. "That was a  _kind_  description of you."  

"Thanks a lot." The freighter captain retorted as he pulled off his flight gloves while making his way down the ramp towards them. Both men met in a friendly embrace and though it was some time since they had seen each other, fell into old habits as if they were never been apart. "After all the trouble I went through making sure this charming lady had a trouble free trip." As he said that, he took the commander's hand in his and gently kissed her knuckle. 

"Thank you Buck," she smiled. " It was pleasant. I haven't been wined and dined in quite some time." 

"Weren't you suppose to be flying the ship?" Nathan declared, shaking his head. Somehow the idea of Buck trying to romance Commander Travis, who was clearly too good for him, irritated Nathan to no end. 

"There is such a thing as auto-pilot you know." Buck gave him a look.  

"Perhaps we should go," the commander spoke up before the question of her virtue came into question. 

"Yes, we should." Nathan readily agreed. Although Buck was perfectly aware of Nathan's loyalties these days and was a rebel sympathizer, Nathan had no wish to endanger his life in any way. Buck provided a valuable service to the Rebel Alliance, often at no charge at all and Nathan had no wish to see that resource come to an end, not to mention his concern for Buck's life. "Buck, until next time." 

"You take care." Buck's playful expression became serious and he patted Nathan gently on the shoulder. "Its hard times out there." 

"You too, you ol' star pilot." 

"Mary," Buck turned his attention to the lovely blond who was such good company, although not as good as he would have liked, during the voyage from Coruscant. "It has been a pleasure."

 "Likewise Buck," she said with a warm smile and genuinely meaning it. "You're staying on in Cordoba?" 

"For a day or so," Buck answered with a slight nod. "There's an old friend I want to look up." 

Nathan knew exactly whom he was talking about. "A word of caution Buck, he's not the man you remember."

Buck let out a soft sigh. "I know," he replied sadly. "But he saved my life more than once and I'm not about to give up on him."

"He must be a good friend." Mary responded, unaware of the specifics of the person Buck was referring to but being able to tell by the look in his eyes, it was someone Buck cared about a great deal.

 With an expression of profound sadness that touched the rebel leader's heart to no end, Buck answered with a little smile. "I hope he still is."

* * *

The boy wandered off the large passenger cruiser, completely enthralled

It was the first time he had been anywhere. True, Cordoba could hardly be considered the hub of civilization in the greater galaxy but at this moment, it was the largest and most populous place the young man had ever been in his life. Despite his attempt not to look like an innocent for the taking of any unscrupulous conman, he could not help the awe in which he was staring at everything when he stepped off the liner that brought him here. Anyone who cast their gaze upon him, knew without doubt that he was fresh off the farm, literally. In his case, they would not be far wrong although he was no farmer,should anyone deign to ask. He had prospects that extended beyond growing  _cjasij  _beans.

He was a pod racer.

Not just a pod racer but rather the best there was on the remote world of Odete where he had spent most of his youth with the mother that had raised him. Thinking about his mother made him said but he was not about to let his sorrow overwhelm him. He was someone with dreams and he was going somewhere. A person going places could not afford to be hampered down by memories of the mother who had gone to the next life only weeks ago, leaving a farm that was worth barely nothing, to which he had only been too happy to sell in order to buy passage off world.

He had gotten this far on his dream and the plan. The plan that he had nurtured for as long as he remembered, the one where he would leave the rural world of Odete and make his way to Coruscant, where the real money was to be made in pod racing. He imagined himself being pitted against the very best the galaxy had to offer and he knew that he could be counted as one of their number, all he had to do was get to Coruscant. Of course, while his mother was alive, he would not even entertained the notion and for a long time, felt like he was spinning his wheels on the world of his birth, even though he could never feel resentment towards her. While she was alive, she had been his entire world and when she was gone, the void left behind was more than he could stand, which was why he hastily sold the farm and everything that could bring a price before coming here.

He did not have a fortune on him but he did have money and the plan that brought him this far, required him to find passage to Coruscant where he was certain some pod owner would discover him and set him on the path to glory. After disembarking from the ship that brought him to Cordoba, the young man wandered through the lengthy corridors of the space port, seeking passage to Coruscant by way of the numerous freighters that used this as their main base of operation. The liner that took him this far was only a local carrier and big passenger liners, the ones servicing the core worlds did not come to Cordoba. If he were going to Coruscant, he would have to hire a ship to take him there. 

Wandering into what he had been told by one of the people at customs to be a local haunt for freighter pilots, the young man no more than eighteen years of age, felt a swell of apprehension when he noted the atmosphere in the tavern. There was only one word to best described it although to his knowledge, it was a word he had never had cause to use before. Sleazy. The place was sleazy. Swallowing visibly and trying not to feel any more out of place then he already did, the youth entered the dingy establishment and headed towards the bar. As he approached the counter, he tried not to stare at the different life form scattered around the area.

Drinking utensils equipped for every appendage from hands to tentacles, were filled with colorful concoctions and imbibed freely by the diverse array of creatures. A Jizz band was playing something catching in the distance and the mood in the establishment though 'sleazy' was nonetheless lively. He arrived at the bar and was soon tended to by a Whipid bartender who inquired through the static bursts of his translator, what he wanted to drink. Nervously, he ordered a Sava juice and hoped he did not look too much like a dumb kid, which unfortunately he did no matter how hard he wished otherwise.

His eye caught the arrival of a tall human striding through the front door, wearing Corellian colors and the remnants of what used to be a Republic uniform. As he entered, a svelte Twi'leki, all blue and enchanting wrapped her arms around the man and for a few seconds, they engaged in flirtatious banter before she moved away from him, a look in her eyes that was one of clear invitation. The man with the moustache grinned and though the youth did not know what exactly was said, could guess that he was taking up the offer. 

"Boy." A finger prodded him in the back

He turned around and faced a Rodian. At least he thought it was a Rodian, he had never actually seen one in the flesh but he knew the characteristics generic to the species. They often came with spiky green protrusions about the skull that tapered into a snout and large, black glass eyes with no irises. 

"Yes?" He asked wondering what the creature wanted of him. 

"You look to me as if you are new to this place."  

Not exactly a revelation he had to admit but could not find it in himself to be so rude by saying so, "I am. I just got in today." 

"And what is your business here?" The alien inquired further as the bar tender served his juice. 

"I'm trying to get to Coruscant." He volunteered, uncertain after he did it whether it was such a wise move or not. 

"Coruscant?" The Rodian exclaimed. "How fortunate, perhaps I can help you." 

"Are you a freighter captain?" He said with more excitement than he should have and immediately felt like a dumb naive kid.

"Yes I am. I can take you to Coruscant." 

"Really?" His excitement grew and he wondered why he thought chartering a flight was going to be so hard. This had been relatively easy! Of course he knew the Rodian was not going to take him to Coruscant for free. "How much?" 

"Well," the Rodian stroked his snout with his large hand, "we are far from Coruscant. It won't be cheap."  

"I know," he answered automatically, expecting as much. 

"Twenty thousand credits." The freighter Captain answered. 

"Twenty thousand?" He gushed, unable to even imagine that much money let alone possessing it. His heart sank at that moment, realizing if this was the standard cost to get to Coruscant, he would not be getting there any time soon. "I don't have that much money." 

"I see." The Rodian responded and seemed to consider the situation thoughtfully. "Perhaps we can work something out."

"Sure," the boy said eagerly, willing to do anything so the plan did not fall to pieces before his eyes. He did not realize the human he saw earlier was now standing next to him at the bar and was being drawn into his conversation to the Rodian with growing interest, even if the man seemed oblivious to the talks.

"Would you be willing to work it off?" The Rodian suggested after a moment.

"I don't understand." He stammered. "What do you mean?"

"He means are you willing to be conned into agreeing to work off your fee which, he will eventually tell you after you've boarded his ship, is charged with substantial interest and by the time you do actually get to Coruscant, you'll be older than I am." The man declared, insinuating himself into the conversation with what could only be interpreted as a furious expression on his face.

"Stay out of this Weelmington." The Rodian warned as he stood up from his stool. "The matter is between myself and the boy."

"Kid," Buck looked at the youth who was a tragedy waiting to happen because he was just so damn green. Buck wondered if he had ever been  _that_  young. "What's your name?"

"JD." The boy answered, completely flustered now. "JD Dunne." 

"Listen to me JD Dunne," Buck said firmly, his hand dropping to the blaster at his hip. "Do you know what slavery is?"

JD's eyes widened in shocka s he stared at the Rodian, whose expressionless face betrayed nothing, realizing what the stranger was attempting to save him from. "Yes Sir."

"Good," Buck replied. "You were just about to indenture yourself to this Rodian as a slave to get your trip to Coruscant."

JD did not know what to say but the Rodian had volumes to verbalize on the matter. He went for his weapon but before he could even draw, he was staring down Buck's blaster aimed at his face.

"Do it Nardo." Buck hissed. "I'd be doing the galaxy a favor." 

"This is the last time you' interfere with my affairs Weelmington." The Rodian spat angrily at him, making JD jump slightly. "Next time, I will kill you."

"Or I could kill you." Buck returned and stepped backwards. "Come on kid." He motioned JD to follow him and after what almost happened to him, the young man was smart enough to know a good idea when he heard one.

Besides, what other choice did he have?


	2. The Bounty Hunter

The Whipid had been watching the duo of humans from the moment they had emerged from the docking bay. As an informant, he knew the wisdom of keeping an eye on things even if there was no reason to do so. Most of the time, his livelihood relied almost entirely on chance encounters, glimpses of the unusual and subtle shifts in the wind that bespoke more than was intended. The spaceport of Cordoba was one of the best places for such observations. For it was here that all creatures appeared their most vulnerable. If asked to explain why, the Whipid would be unable to do so. He would be able to say in his defense that the spaceport was a place of purpose, for those who came here did so for one reason or another and the trick was in finding which reason was most valuable.

The tall, dark human with the lovely blond companion had a reason and it was an important one, if the body language displayed by the male was any indication. Thanks to the idiosyncrasies of human physiology, the species came equipped with numerous facial expressions, which displayed the subtle changes in behavior and emotional states that allowed for easy interpretation by someone who knew what to look for. The Whipid noted the way the male's eyes darted about, searching the faces for any sign heralding  danger. When he noted none, he ushered the lady into the corridor and they made their way through the bodies, cautious and alert of everything before them.

The Whipid shifted from his position against the wall of one of the many busy corridors in the complex, appearing to most as little more than a beggar not even rating  a second glance by the human as he hurried past with his lady. There was no doubt in the mind of the observer that the duo was engaged in something important, even illegal. Their body language revealed the tension that was running through both of them and warranted the Whipid's continued interest. It was relatively easy for him to maintain his surveillance with the number of people that were moving in and out of the spaceport on their way to their respective destinations.

The observed humans were trying to make their way out of the space station, that much was clear which somewhat surprised the Whipid who thought they might be attempting to make their way off world, since the male was so apprehensive. His manner indicated he might have been a soldier of some sort, certainly his body language reeked of discipline and control. However, the Whipid suspected that it was more than likely he was not an Imperial agent. Imperial agents had no reason to feel fear and that set the Whipid's thought processes into motion. A rebel perhaps?

As an informant, it was impossible for the Whipid not to know about the rebel alliance as infant as it might be at present. Certainly, the Empire considered the movement a very real threat that would have significant impact on future galactic politics and stability. Much of the Empire's concern was due to the fact most of its leaders were former members of the Republic Senate and their voices represented the silent majority dislking the establishment of an Emperor in place of a Chancellor. Although Palpatine's reign was new, the destruction of the Jedi Order and the extraordinary powers being granted to regional governors were already giving concern to many.

While the rebel alliance was not well equipped, their benefactors were rumored to be powerful governments like Alderaan and Mon Calamari, industrially rich worlds that could soon alter that weakness by providing armaments and military support. Standing orders to all Imperial informants demanded the immediate notification to authorities of any data regarding the rebel alliance and its members. The Whipid was becoming more and more certain the two humans he was following were apart of that organization. Unfortunately, it was not wise to observe rebels for an extended period of time and as they neared the edge of the spaceport, he saw a group of storm troopers about to switch duty rotations. 

The Whipid waited until the two humans had left the main doors of the spaceport before making his way to the storm troopers. He had no wish to rouse their suspicion should he be seen. Rebels had no hesitation dying for their cause and taking betrayers with them to the grave. Cordoba was not that large a community and it would be relatively easy for the storm troopers to uncover their whereabouts once a sweep of the city be made. Even so, it would be just as easy for them to catch up to the duo once he passed on the information of their existence and his suspicions. However, there was the possibility that he might be wrong, that the two humans could have a perfectly legitimate reason for their manner. If so, it was of no concern to him. His job was the passing of data; it was someone else's responsibility to verify it.

Besides, he knew he was not wrong.

* * *

Vin Tanner had done his research carefully before arriving on Cordoba in search of his prey. The Imperial agents who had hired him had provided some data about the man's whereabouts but Vin did not trust it to be accurate. He had his own contacts and although he was once Jabba's slave, Vin resolved his differences with the gangster long ago to have access to the vast resources of the Hutt network. Thus before he had even set foot on Cordoba, the bounty hunter had a good idea regarding the layout of the place. Though he would be hard pressed to explain how he was able to commit so much information to memory, Vin was confident he would have no difficulty navigating through the city.

He moved through Cordoba as if he was native to the place and every turn of road and path was already familiar to him. It was such skills that allowed him to be known as one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy. In truth, when questioned about his uncanny intuition, Vin often felt uncomfortable. He could not explain why he often simply knew when he was walking into a dangerous situation or how it was possible to be certain someone was lying to him or not. The abilities saved his life too many times than he could count but trying to understand what it was, frightened Vin more than any of the dangers he ever faced in his life.

Returning his attention to the Jedi, it was not lost upon Vin how easily his thoughts were prone to distraction during this occasion and he told himself that if he did not stop, he would get himself killed. Taking a deep breath, he focussed himself, forcing his concentration to sharpen on the business at hand. Most of the reports centering on the Jedi were vague and uncertain but Vin had sifted through them to know where he ought to start looking. In truth, he did not expect it to be easy but then what ever was? The tavern where most of the sighting of the Jedi originated was called the Four Corners Inn and the informants believed he was residing permanently at the establishment. However, for some strange reason, none of the informants were aware Larabee was a Jedi and were genuinely surprised when told of that fact.

For some reason, that gave Vin pause.

The more he thought about this assignment, the more he disliked it. Everything about going after a Jedi felt wrong. If it were not for the threat to his personal liberty was at stake, he would have turned them Empire down. Certainly, if he brought the Jedi in, he would be very well paid. Perhaps enough to buy that quiet little place he always-wanted on Iskalon. Vin had been forced to land the  _Tracker_  on the planet once during his trip through the system. Not only was it remote and beyond the reach of the main space lanes but also pristine and untouched. It was the kind of place where someone who did not like people could lose himself forever.

However, there was something else at work inside of him making him anxious about the whole business of hunting Jedi. He could not explain it but it soured inside his belly and left such a bad taste it was taking all his effort to ignore it. He knew he was capable of hardening his emotions to such impregnability nothing could penetrate. One could not do what he did for a living without building such shields over one's emotions. The cardinal rule he was taught from those who had introduced him to the business was simple; never feel for the mark. The moment it happened, you were as good as dead.

Shaking such negative thoughts out of his mind, he found himself at the tavern in question. As such places went, it was certainly not the most inviting establishment of its type in Cordoba. If anything, it looked dingy and seedy. The building was not far short of dilapidated and the sign displaying its name was almost falling off the awning that hung across the door. The size of the building indicated it probably took in lodgers but would not be the first choice of patrons who could afford better. As he approached it, he could hear the sound of the slight chatter of customers within the tavern, with music emanating from the open door. Vin checked his blaster once more, even though he primed it the moment he was within line of sight of the tavern. He had already enough reservations about this entire situation without being badly prepared as well.

The first thing he noticed upon entering, was the dim surroundings of the tavern. It must have been a galactic standard they all be bathed in darkness, Vin thought as he passed through the doors. The layout of the room placed the tables in individual booths, lit only by a small lamp at the center of each table. It was not very busy and yet there was something about it that immediately forced Vin to drop his hand to his holster. A few patrons sat at the bar; the others hid in their booths, watching him closely as he entered the floor of the establishment. 

The clientele included both human and non humans. They jabbered at each other in their own language, or through the means of a translator that turned six million forms of communication into Standard Galactic speak. However, upon his arrival, their voices lowered and though they tried not to look at him, he was certain that he was the reason. Vin was accustomed to such reaction from the local populace because his reputation as a bounty hunter was not something he could hide, but something more was at work here. However, just what about it felt wrong was something he could not define despite the feeling of unbalanced that prevailed. 

Behind the counter, the bartender gave him reason to stare for she was indeed very beautiful. Flowing dark hair and dusky skin, she offered him a little smile as he approached the stained wooden counter. Unlike her tavern, which reeked of alcohol and nickitaine, he could almost smell her perfume through the odor of intoxicants in the room. Vin did not have much experience with women and if one thing could be considered his weakness, it was his dealings with the opposite sex. There had been no women on the moisture farm where he grew up and the first time he had actually seen a human female was shortly after he had escaped Tatooine in his late teens. After that, his relations with women were limited and with one exception, never slept with any he did not have to pay for.

"What can I get you?" She asked with that devastating smile upon reaching the counter.

"Information." He said in his too soft voice.

"Sorry," she shrugged. "Don't deal in information, just drinks. There are plenty of informants elsewhere in Cordoba but not here. I don't believe in selling out for money." She did not look offended as she made this speech, merely content to simply tell him the facts as they stood.

Vin's brow raised in surprise. He could tell she meant it too. There were not many people who genuinely surprised him and despite the wisdom of doing so, Vin found he warmed to the lovely bartender. "I'm sorry." He answered quietly. "I was looking for someone who lodges here."

"That I can help you with." She leaned forward on the counter and rested her chin on her hand as she looked up at him with her dancing eyes. "You have a name for this someone?"

"Larabee." Vin answered, leaning forward in kind. Despite his casual manner, he was watching her expression carefully.

  
She did not disappoint. Immediately, her eyes darted over his shoulder and Vin did not need to turn around to know she had glanced at someone who was here at  _this_  moment. This troubled the bounty hunter somewhat, even though he showed no indication of it to the woman. Vin was further surprised he had not sensed it. Usually, he could feel it when a bounty was close. He did not know how that could be but his intuition on these matters was almost always right. 

"Thanks." Vin said simply, not about to compromise her any more than necessary.

"Hey," she called out as he started to turn away. "I wouldn't bother him."

"I'm not going to bother him." 

"That's good," she returned. "Because he knew you were coming."

Vin stopped short and looked sharply at her. "What do you mean?" He asked, his voice now little more than a low hiss.

"I mean he was expecting you. Ten minutes ago, he asked me to bring him two drinks." She explained an expression of concern in her eyes. Vin could not tell whether her worry was for Larabee or him but intuition once again told him it was a little of both.

"Thanks..." Vin nodded in understanding and looked at her to reveal her name.

"Inez." She volunteered.

"Thanks Inez." He offered her a small smile and turned around to deal with the Jedi who was expecting him. Had the Imperial agents compromised him? How would the Jedi know that he was here? He supposed someone in Jabba's organization could have talked. Money was capable of loosening many tongues but somehow Vin did not believe so. Jabba's network was normally very reliable because Jabba's treatment of those who betrayed his trust was extreme to say the least.

The figure waiting for him at his booth was wearing a dark cloak with a hood ensuring he was unrecognizable in the dim light of the tavern. Vin saw no signs of movement but observed that the contents in one of the glasses on the table happened to be the beer of his choice. His hand was now firmly across his gun, poised to draw if the moment arose. As he neared the table, the hood rose and a pair of icy coloured eyes stared at him.

"Chris Larabee." Vin spoke recognizing the face that gazed up at him indifferently.

"What's left of him." The voice was a little more than a low hiss.

Vin paused at the table and studied the man whose eyes saw him and through him at the same time. The Jedi was not what he expected but then Vin had never met a Jedi, so preparation for the meeting was impossible.

"How did you know I was coming?" Vin found himself asking.

"You know the answer to that better than I do." The man answered, his piercing green eyes turning to the glass in his hand. He downed the drink without any fear at taking his eyes off a potentially dangerous bounty hunter.

"I don't." Vin replied, unaware of why he was so defensive at what were harmless questions despite their cryptic nature. "I'm here to take you in." He tried to get some kind of reaction from the man, to show him who was in charge here. "You can make this simple. You come with me now and I won't hurt you. Give me any trouble and I won't have any problem bringing you in dead."

Chris Larabee lowered the mug in his hand and stared at the young man whose power emanated strongly even though he knew nothing of it or at least did not wish to admit that it existed. There was a time when Chris would have cared enough to let the man know his potential but that time was long past. It was a pity he no longer cared  about this young man who, in another time would have realised he was apart of something greater than himself because force burned strongly within him. That once not so long ago, he might have been able to take his place among others of his kind.

Others of his kind..

The realization there would be no others for a long time left ash in Chris's mouth. It left ash as bitter tasting as the sorrow keeping his heart an open wound. He closed his eyes and tried not to think of Adam, Adam whose light was extinguished even before it began because of Palpatine and Vader. He felt the shudder of the dark side ripple through his consciousness as he thought about the Sith Lords who now sat in places of uncontestable power in the galaxy. He thought of the Republic, crumbling from within and the end of the Jedi. He remembered fleeing from the remnants of the Jedi Council in Coruscant when news of the slaughter reached him. He had tried to get home to Corellia in time to save his wife and son but it had been too late.

Insight had told him that it was too late for  _anyone_ the moment Skywalker became Jedi.

"So bring me in dead." Chris answered raising his hand towards Inez to bring him another. In truth, he cared little if he lived or died

"I don't want to kill you." Vin replied, becoming more unbalanced by the moment. How could he be so damned calm? "But you're coming with me now." He reached for his gun and aimed it the Jedi's face.

"I'll come with you." Chris said calmly, not even looking at him. "Just make sure when I get delivered to Palpatine and Vader, you're far away from them."

Vin blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"It's not insight or intuition." Chris retorted meeting his gaze while easing back into the leather of his booth. "You can tell yourself it's because you're an exceptional bounty hunter. Best in the galaxy, isn't that what Jabba the Hutt says?"

"Shut up." Vin ordered, not liking Chris was absolutely correct in his statement. Jabba the Hutt  _had_  called him that on numerous occasions. His reputation for being the best came with that tag. "Stand up."

Chris did not move. Incredibly, Inez stepped up to the table and served his drink, aware of the weapon drawn but barely raising a brow as she saw Vin attempting to exert himself over the Jedi. She served Chris his drink and then retreated, looking in neither man's direction as she departed. Chris reached for his glass and took another deep sip. "That little edge that allows you to see things ahead of time, to know when danger is around the corner. I hate to be the one to tell you this but if you plan on delivering me to the Empire, you better be aware of what could happen to you if the Emperor even gets a whiff of you."

"QUIET!" Vin shouted angrily, not liking what it was this stranger was implying to because it felt uncomfortably like the truth he had wondered about all his life.

Chris ignored him and continued speaking. "I suppose being born outside Republic territory, it was only natural we missed you. If you had been a citizen and not a slave, you would have been tested as a boy and then trained. I bet the midiclorion count in your blood is pretty high for it to exert itself without any training."

"What are you talking about?" Vin demanded uncertainly.

"The Force is with you Tanner." Chris replied. "And if you go anywhere near Vader or the Emperor when you hand me over to them, you can kiss your life goodbye too."

"That's crazy." Vin stuttered. "I don't have the Force or whatever you call it."

"You don't have to believe it," the Jedi replied with sneer.  "They'll know just as I knew the minute you stepped off your ship. You see a Jedi can hide among others but not among Jedi. We know each other."

"You're just trying to confuse me." Vin took a step forward, deciding to put an end to this matter once and for all. He was a professional bounty hunter! He did not get side tracked with words, even if they were coming from the lips of a Jedi!

"I don't have to confuse you." Chris answered indifferently. "If you want to take me in, that's up to you. I don't care."

"Too bad I do." A new voice said sharply.

Vin felt the barrel of a gun being pushed into the small of his back. A flash of insight told him there were two people standing behind him. A man and a boy. His stomach hollowed when he saw the Jedi looking at him, perfectly aware of the ability that allowed his mind to see it. With a sinking feeling, Vin suddenly realised the man was right.

"Drop the gun." The new arrival ordered. "JD, pick it up."

The boy rounded the bounty hunter, his eyes trying to hide his fear. Vin sensed the younger man was unsure of what was happening but was not about to question the order put to him. When Vin released the weapon, it dropped onto the table and the boy named JD immediately retrieved it. Vin watched his gun being handled by the boy who did not even look happy holding such a weapon in his hands and the apprehension in his eyes was clear enough to exploit.

"This isn't your concern." Vin spoke up. "I have an Imperial warrant to bring the Jedi in. You're interfering in their business. Do you know the consequences for that boy?" Vin stared at JD in particular when he asked that question. "Do you know how much trouble you're getting yourself into?"

JD seemed uncertain but did not waver as he aimed the gun in Vin's direction, taking his lead from Buck Wilmington, who had not only saved him from making an unfortunate mistake earlier with the Rodian, but seemed genuinely concerned about him. Even though he had known the man for only a short time, he felt as if he could trust Buck. And right now, he had the feeling that he really needed someone to watch out for him because he had stepped into a world he knew nothing about.

JD swallowed the lump of fear in his throat and met the bounty hunter's gaze, trying to inject as much bravery into his voice as he could muster. "No," he shook his head. "But I'm sure I'll find out later."

Behind the bounty hunter, Buck threw the young man a little smile of appreciation before regarding Vin once again. "Now you can walk out of here on your own or we can carry you out when you're dead. The choice is up to you."

"I thought Jedis fought their own battles." Vin looked at Chris with a hint of derision in his voice.

JD's eyes widened and he turned towards Chris. "You're a Jedi Knight!" The boy exclaimed. "For real?" His gaze shifted from Vin for a second which was more than the bounty hunter needed to retrieve his weapon from the inexperienced youth and grab him in an arm lock before Buck could pull the trigger on the weapon.

"Let the kid go!" Buck demanded furious at himself for not firing but he did not take killing a man lightly, despite how he sometimes behaved to the more loathsome varieties that seemed to be emerging everywhere these days.

Vin was not about to give up his advantage just yet and his arm pulled tighter against JD's throat, forcing a dry rasp from the boy's lips. Larabee did not seem to care very much how this went one way or another but his taller companion did and Vin silenced any struggles made by his captive by pressing the barrel of his blaster against JD's ribs. "I'll let the kid go when Larabee stands up."

Chris turned to the bounty hunter as he made that statement and said simply. "You'll let the kid go now." His voice was weary and sounded so very old and sad.

"That's not going to happen." Vin retorted.

"I think it is." 

In the shadows of where he had been sitting, Vin saw the Jedi's hand move. At least, he thought he did. His fingers seemed to stretch out for a second in a small, neat arch but Vin's observation was cut short when he felt something against his throat. For an instant, Vin was certain he felt fingers around his neck, pressing into his skin and forcing the air out of his lungs. He released JD involuntarily and as the young man hurried away, Vin dropped his gun and reached for his neck, more interested in removing the invisible talons strangling him.

This time Buck retrieved the weapon and stepped back, watching the bounty hunter struggling to breathe like every other person in the bar, wondering how far the Jedi was going to go with this.

"Chris...." Buck glanced at him anxiously. "Chris, you're not a killer." 

However, Chris was a changed man and as much as Buck might hate to admit it, he was not entirely certain the jedi would not kill the bounty hunter.

"I'm not a lot of things any more Buck," Chris answered dispassionately, seeming as if he cared little for the plight of the man seconds away from dying. By now the bounty hunter was on his knees, struggling for every breath of air he could take.

"But," Chris sighed, finally coming to a decision. "They'll come after him soon enough. Once the rest of us are gone, they'll find him." 

With that, he released the hold he had over the bounty hunter who promptly collapsed to the floor

"Get out of here!" Buck shouted at Vin who forced himself to stand. Vin was still too astonished to do anything but to hurry out of the place, holding his throat and coming to grips with what almost happened to him.

When the bounty hunter had left, Buck regarded JD. "Are you okay?"

JD nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm sorry I let him get the drop on me Buck."

"That's okay," Buck replied amiably, more pleased the kid was not hurt than angered by something he was ill equipped to prevent. He was so young and Buck had almost forgotten what it was like to look at the world with such new eyes. Perhaps, recounting his own experiences was one of the reasons why Buck assumed responsibility for the younger man's well being because once, someone had helped him as JD needed help now. He stepped out to JD and ruffled the young man's hair, just to let him know that everything was genuinely all right.

"You know he'll be back." Buck turned to Chris after seeing to the welfare of his new charge.

"I know." Chris nodded.

"Why did you leave it so long to do anything?" Buck stared at Chris in disapproval. "You could have stop this from getting as far as it did."

Chris eased into the booth once more, hiding himself in the shadows before he whispered his answer. "I didn't care when it was just me."


	3. The Senator

They were being followed.

Although the storm troopers in the street behind them seemed to be merely conducting their usual patrols, Nathan could not shake the belief somehow he and Mary were the reason for their sudden appearance at every corner. As the two of them tried to maintain their composure at the possibility of discovery, they debated whether or not to continue towards the rendezvous point to meet the third member of their party. Time was of the essence. The longer they remained on Cordoba, the greater the chance of being discovered as rebels, if they were not already. However, continuing onward and assuming they were not being pursued was equally dangerous since they would be endangering the person they were going to meet.

Nathan knew to make a premature attempt at evasion might further inspire the storm troopers' suspicions. Even though Cordoba was a planet located at the edge of galactic space, he did not underestimate the Empire's ability to secure the planet if they for a moment believed rebels were on it. If they were to make an identification of Mary Travis as his companion, then there would be Star Destroyers bound for the system so quick their chances of getting out alive would be next to impossible. All members of the Rebel Alliance topped the Empire's most wanted list and Mary had the dubious honor of being held in the same demand as the Republic senators who were presently on the run from Imperial agents.

Mary was a member of the Rebellion's inner circle. She knew the locations of a dozen secret bases, the names of supporters in the Imperial Senate who fed them information, not to mention a wealth of data regarding the leaders of the Rebellion the Empire could easily exploit. Nathan shuddered to think the crippling blow that would be delivered to the Rebel Alliance should they capture her alive. It was very possible the Alliance might not be able to recover from it. The movement was still too new and fledgling to suffer an injury like that and Nathan did not even want to imagine what they would do to her in order to extract the information.

"Mary," Nathan whispered as they entered the surroundings of what seemed to be a street bazaar. Suddenly there were peddlers all around them, selling wares that ranged from livestock to spare parts for starships, all beneath the protection of brightly colored tents that kept the sun from the merchandise. Droids stood about expectantly as prospective owners examined them with deep scrutiny, taking stock of every bit of tarnished metal and faded plexiglass. There were colorful beads and stones shining on display cases, exotic foods wafting through the air with its rich aromas and people pushing through the narrow walks between stores in frenzy for the ultimate bargain.

"I think we've been compromised." He whispered as he lowered his lips to her ear.

"I know," she nodded grimly, giving no indication of anything wrong to those who might be watching. "I saw them."

"Josiah's waiting at the rendezvous point." He continued speaking, keeping a cautious eye for any storm troopers. It was difficult when there were so many people crushing them on all sides.

"We can't take the risk." Mary said abruptly. "We can't lead them to him."  

Nathan could understand her apprehension. Prior to his arrival here, the local rebel base had changed location in order to protect its secrecy should they be captured on route. Only the contact that they were meeting at the rendezvous point knew where it was and neither could continue to that meeting if they knew they were being followed by Imperial agents. Their lives were an acceptable loss in the protection of their cause.

Nathan thought quickly because he knew Cordoba far better than she did. It took him a few moments to decide what was the best course of action and in honest truth, after further deliberation, Nathan realised they had no other choice as well. "There's a little tavern not far from here." He glanced over the line of the crowd into a back street in the distance. "Buck usually goes there to meet his friend. If we can make it there, he might be able to smuggle us off planet until we can contact the Alliance for new instructions."

"What's it called?" Mary asked.

"The Four Corners Tavern." 

"I see." She considered their options. "I think we should split up here."

"Split up?" Nathan did not like the idea of allowing her to venture beyond his protection alone. She was far too important to be captured.

"In this crowd, it will be easy to do." She said hastily, aware that his voice dripped with objection. "They're looking for a man and a woman, if we split up it might confuse them long enough for us to get to Buck."

Despite himself, Nathan could not fault her logic and knew that it was the sensible thing to do. He had to remind himself no matter how young she looked; she was still in charge and was appointed to lead the rebellion in this sector for that very reason.

"Alright," he nodded reluctantly. "We'll do it your way but I'm just telling you now, I won't leave without you."

"Yes you will leave Captain," Mary returned sharply. "You may not know as much as I do about the Alliance but you know enough. You're as much a prize to them as I am. So you will leave if I do not make it to this place."

"But..." Nathan started to protest but Mary silenced him with a look.

"That is an order Captain." She repeated herself forcefully, with no margin for confusion in her voice as her eyes stared at him.

Realizing he had no choice and with more and more Imperial troops flooding into the square occupied by the bazaar, Nathan realised the question of whether or not they were followed was answered. The storm troopers no longer held their casual countenance and appeared to be sifting through the bodies and stores searching for something specific. They had only a few seconds to lose themselves in the crowd before the soldiers noticed their hasty departure.

"Understood," Nathan agreed finally, further discussion ended when she made it an order. "I'll wait for you as long as I can and if you don't meet me there, I'll contact the Alliance." He said looking at her somberly, his dislike plain for all to see.

Whether or not he disliked it was of no concern to Mary. Being a member of the Rebel Alliance meant tolerating a great deal which left a sour taste in her mouth. This was no different. They offered each other a parting look before finally turning on their heels and allowing the messy array of buyers and sellers to swallow them whole. 

* * *

"Jesus Chris." Buck Wilmington said disapprovingly as he stared across the darkened booth at his friend. "What's that, the second one this month?"

Chris Larabee, formerly Jedi Knight shrugged his shoulders indifferently, not deigning to answer even though he knew it was closer to three. Ever since he arrived here on Cordoba, Imperial agents, their hired killers and finally the newest classification of would be assassins, bounty hunters, hounded him incessantly. A smart man would have quit Cordoba by now, disappearing into the wilderness of space beyond the Territory but Chris was in no hurry to leave. His destiny at this time was unclear and he was content to wait for something he knew was coming, even though he was not quite certain what it was. He knew what he would like it to be and though it was unseemly for a Jedi to possess a death wish, he was aware he was in ownership of such a desire.

Buck took a sip of his mug of beer and tried not to allow the anger in his voice to show even though he was certain Chris could pick up the strong emotions emanating from him. He and Chris went back a long time, all the way back to Corellia when they met as teenagers. Chris was a  _padwan_ _learner_  then, what the Jedi called an apprentice, while he was a cadet itching for his first taste of star piloting. They had both been as young as JD here, who was seated quietly in his corner of the booth, trying not to stare in fascination at the Jedi.

"That last one had a look about him." Buck pointed out, remembering the edge he saw in the bounty hunter's eyes as he made his hasty departure. Buck had the impression that Chris had taken him by surprise and it was not a mistake he was likely to make again. Something about him made Buck nervous and Chris's reaction to the man was equally puzzling. "He'll be back you know."

"I guess so." Chris answered, having made his way through another glass of beer and showed no signs of slowing. Buck had seen the pattern enough times to know that Chris would finally have enough when he was too drunk to stand.

"Damnit Chris," Buck swore with an uncharacteristic burst of anger. "How long is this going to go on?"

Chris raised his eyes and the look in there had a scent of danger Buck was not about to heed. The warning to let it go was clear but Buck was beyond that now. He knew what it was to anger a Jedi. Chris could break every bone in his body without lifting a finger to do it but Buck did not care. Chris was his friend and he could not simply sit by and let the man disintegrate before his eyes.

"Chris," Buck met his gaze fearlessly. "I loved Sarah and Adam too. Maybe not as much as you did but pretty much I can tell you. I always thought you were so lucky to have her because she was one of the finest woman I ever met." He paused a moment and saw the hard green eyes speckle with something that could almost been sorrow for a few seconds before he continued speaking once more. "It would just kill her to see what you're doing to yourself because of her death. She would never have wanted you to be like this."

"Stay out of it Buck." Chris warned. This time there was no denying the menace in that voice.

"Mr Larabee," JD suddenly spoke up, interrupting a situation he could see was going from bad to worse. He did not know that even the mythical Jedi Knights could feel so much pain and yet knowing gave JD a great deal of empathy for Chris Larabee. "I know it isn't any of my business to say anything but I came here to Cordoba, running away from everything I knew because I couldn't stand being where I was without my mother."

JD paused for a moment, almost in anticipation of an invisible chokehold around his throat for speaking out of turn, but decided to press on ahead since he had come this far. "I came here looking for a way to Coruscant, chasing my dreams and if it wasn't for Buck I would have been stuck in a really bad situation. I know losing my mother can't compare to losing your son and wife but you've got to accept help sometimes, even when you don't think you need it but simply because its there."

Chris raised his eyes to meet the boy's, somewhat surprised at the depth in those youthful words and the courage it took for the young man to tell the truth. Chris could sense just how much fear JD had overcome to say what he just had and could not help feeling touched even if the words could not remove the sting he felt.

"There are some things a Jedi must handle alone." He said softly. "Sometimes, we follow our destiny wherever it takes us."

"Even if it leads you to getting yourself killed?" Buck countered, similarly impressed by JD's words and made a mental note to thank the kid for his efforts later on.

"Even then." Chris answered before he turned to the bar and noted a man walking into the establishment. Unlike the previous visitor to the tavern who had entered the place in search of him, Chris could sense no such danger from the new arrival even though the nature of his business was no less urgent. The man consulted Inez at the bar for a few seconds before his eyes swept across the room and rested in the direction she was gesturing, the direction that would bring him straight to their table.

Buck noted Chris's stare and looked over his shoulder and recognised the man as he approached. He appeared to be in his late forties with graying hair and solid frame that would make him formidable should he choose to use it in combat. Worried eyes peered at them from beneath heavy brows and though Buck could not place the name, he certainly knew the face from somewhere.

"I know this guy." Buck whispered.

"You should." Chris remarked. "He's looking for you."

Buck shot Chris a look as he saw the man finally reaching his table. He wore nondescript colors and looked like someone trying very hard to be anonymous even though his stature and manner would always capture attention.

"Which one of you is the pilot of the  _Rogue_?" The man asked with a deep resonating voice that seemed more appropriate in oration then it did inside such seedy surroundings.

"I am." Buck said uncertainly. "What can I do for you?" Despite his best efforts not to sound it, Buck's voice oozed with suspicion. Under the table, his hand was resting on his blaster. He did not know this person but the familiarity gave him reason for caution and until Buck knew why, he was not about to take any chances.

"I understand you arrived this morning in Cordoba." He replied. "Your passenger was a young woman."

"Obviously you don't know Buck very well." Chris drawled, perfectly aware of why the man was making the inquiry. "It's an event if he _doesn't_ have a passenger who was a young lady of some kind."

Buck threw Chris a dark look before regarding the man again. "I don't know what you're talking about. I just came to visit an old friend. I had no passenger on my ship."

"Yes you did," the man returned. "A young woman whom you had to pick up at Alderaan with full diplomatic clearance from the highest office in the land. I believe you were provided with all the documentation to leave Alderaan customs without an on board search? She was wearing a portable bio-disrupter to mask the second life sign on your ship when you were being scanned?"

"If it makes you feel any better Buck," Chris spoke up. "This is Josiah Sanchez, formerly the Republic Senator representing Sollust."

Finally Buck understood and quickly answered in a low voice. "Sit down."

Josiah bowed his head gently in gratitude to the Jedi and took up a seat at the table. "Thank you for your endorsement." He said gratefully towards Chris. "May I ask if we met?"

"We haven't met really," Chris volunteered. "But I spent a lot of time on Coruscant and I have sat in on a few Council meetings."

"I see," Josiah nodded, wanting to question him some more but letting the desire to know slide because there were more important issues at hand. "I was supposed to be meeting your passenger and her escort some time ago," he turned back to Buck. "They never arrived."

"They never showed?" Buck's eyes widened, realizing what the man was trying to say. Considering the nature of what Nathan was involved in, not to mention Mary as well, if they had not appeared at their scheduled meeting then something had gone terribly wrong.

"I waited at the rendezvous point but neither of them appeared." Josiah continued. "Nathan mentioned that in event of a crisis, this was a safe haven. I came here hoping that if something had gone wrong, they would have come here."

"I haven't seen them." Buck replied automatically. "I handed her over to Nathan as planned and they walked out of the space port without raising any trouble."

"Who Buck?" JD asked.

Buck did not answer but was clearly troubled by the predicament Nathan and Mary most likely found themselves. Somehow, somewhere, someone had seen them and flagged them as members of the Rebel Alliance. It took no feat of genius to deduce what would have transpired if events had followed in that course. Nathan was his friend. They had served together and it worried Buck a great deal because he knew what would happen to Nathan if he was indeed captured by the Empire. At the very least, the former Captain of the Imperial forces would be executed and at worse, he would be interrogated mercilessly for every iota of information he had in his head regarding the Alliance.

Buck did not even want to think what they would do to Mary.

"If they were captured, we would have heard something by now." Buck mused. "No doubt some Imperial goon bucking for promotion to Coruscant would be screaming it across the system. They could be trying to get here."

"Its possible," Josiah conceded to that point even though he did not sound very hopeful now that he had spoken to Buck. "They could be hiding until the search is over."

Chris did not offer any opinions as Buck and Josiah spoke about the subject of mutual concern to both of them. For Chris, he understood the Rebel Alliance had a great deal of time before it fulfilled its destiny. Its time was decades away from reaching apogee and Chris knew there were events transpiring throughout the galaxy at this time that would build the foundation for tomorrow. Sacrifices had been made and the destruction of the Jedi was only the beginning. The Jedi Qui Gonn believed in the mythical  _vergence_ , the prophecy that a chosen one would bring balance to the force. Indeed it was Qui Gonn who found Anakin Skywalker believing him to be the chosen not realizing that bringing balance to the force would require the destruction of the Jedi.

Qui Gonn brought Anakin to Coruscant and made Obi-Wan promise to train him as a Jedi. Chris often wondered if Qui Gonn ever considered the sacrifice that would be required to bring about that balance. Would he have still saved the boy? Chris could never answer that question because Anakin Skywalker had turned and become a Sith Lord and in his defection to the dark side, he not only condemned the Jedi to destruction, he also sealed the fate of Sarah and Adam. Buck was still an idealist, who believed the good fight could turn the Empire back into the Republic but Buck did not know the secrets left to the remaining Jedi who had managed to leave Coruscant when the hunt for their number began.

Obi-Wan kept it a secret from most but the Jedi found it difficult to hide things from one another. Jedi Masters had the ability to shield their thoughts but not for very long and it took a great deal of control to keep another out. However, the advantage of not having any secrets being able to decide who one could trust and Obi-Wan had trusted his most important secret to a select few, hoping those who survived the slaughter would be in the position to help him. Unfortunately, with the exception of Chris, all the others were now gone, preferring to die rather than betray Obi-Wan and thus he stood alone with the knowledge of what awaited Vader some day in the future.

On a small moisture farm in Tatooine.

* * *

It took some time to find the Four Corners Tavern and it was hours after she had left Nathan in the bazaar that she finally walked through the dim confines of the establishment. Outside, Imperial troops were out in force and she knew that her continued presence on the streets of Cordoba would not last indefinitely. Although the possibility of capture still loomed heavily in her mind, it did not feel as urgent as the realization of what would happen to her if she should be captured  _alive_. She prayed inwardly Nathan reached the tavern and already left Cordoba. He had assured her the owner of the Four Corners Tavern was a rebel sympathizer who would offer her sanctuary when she entered its premises.

Slipping through the main entrance, she looked over her shoulder and saw the evidence of Imperial troops in the distance. With her heart pounding in her chest, Mary knew there were more of them than before. It looked liked the entire garrison was out searching for them. Taking a deep breath, Mary prayed the captain had made it this far. He was a good man and was genuinely concerned for her life when she ordered them to split up. At the time it was a good idea, Mary thought defiantly to herself, knowing the danger of questioning one's actions when it was too late to change things. Had they been together, they would not have made it this far. Fortunately, they were looking for a woman and with no idea of what she looked like, that search was long and tedious. Her cloak kept most of her hidden but Nathan was easily distinguishable in his clothes and Mary feared he might have been easier to apprehend than she. As she entered the premises, Mary made a beeline for the counter when suddenly she heard a voice call her.

"Mary!"

To her utmost relief, it was one she recognized as belonging to a friend. Spinning around, she saw Josiah rise from the table he was seated at and also saw Buck Wilmington present as Nathan had guessed he might be when he directed her to come here. Forgetting all about the bar, she crossed the floor and was with him in a matter of seconds. The two old friends engaged in a warm embrace and Mary never thought she could be so happy to see anyone. Obviously Josiah had guessed that this would be the safe house Nathan would choose if they should run into any trouble and had left the rendezvous point to intercept them here.

"Thank the Force you're safe." Josiah exclaimed when they pulled apart.

"Is Nathan here?" She asked, looking past his shoulder at the table and saw no evidence of the tall black man that had been so determined to save her life. When she pulled back to look at Josiah in anticipation of his answer, she already knew inwardly what it would be.

"No," he shook his head sadly. "There's no sign of him. We've been waiting here for most of the afternoon hoping that either of you would show. We'd had storm troopers through the place already, I don't think they will be back."

"Mary sit down." Buck pulled out a chair for her as she sat heavily in it. Her disappointment at Nathan's absence felt like a lead weight and she swore inwardly at the whole idea of separating in the first place. Perhaps if they had stayed together, he would be here. He had been so determined she be safe that he never once thought about the consequences to himself. Even though baser instincts told Mary that the safest course of action at the moment was to cut their losses and run, she could not bring herself to abandon Nathan to the Imperials. That was the way of the Empire, not the Republic.

"Thank you Buck," she said gratefully. "I did not expect to see you again so soon."

"Neither did I." Buck tried to smile but could not quite manage it. "I never question the company of a beautiful woman but I wish it was under other circumstances."

"We have to do something." Mary replied as she sat down and realised that there were other people at the table, notably a boy and a man in a dark hood. She could not see much of him in the dim illumination of the tavern but she could tell his eyes were almost definitely on her. Upon realizing they were not alone, she glanced at Josiah and Buck.

"It's okay," Buck replied. "This is my friend JD and Chris Larabee. They can be trusted."

The boy looked exactly like what he was, a fresh faced kid from the farm who was so green Mary wondered if he was old enough to be in a place like this. He greeted her in monosyllables and gave her the impression that wherever he was from, there were not many women who look like she did, even though she did not consider herself a striking beauty. Mary nodded in acknowledgement at him and was a little amused by the young man's reaction, trying to remember when any man had looked at her that way and realised that it was simply too long. However, she did not remain distracted by JD's behavior and turned her attention to the stranger who had yet to say anything even though they were introduced.

Chris said nothing because he was too busy staring at her. Sarah's death was more than a year behind him now and the pain was still raw and fresh. He closed his eyes and she flooded his mind, whispering her sweet voice in his ear and the Jedi memory allowed him to view it all in perfect detail. Each day since her passing and that of his son's, Chris felt this gnawing in his heart, this painful sensation of teeth tearing at his flesh. He had become so used to this pain it was almost a part of him and yet when this young woman had walked into the room and captured his gaze, for a moment, just a single pinprick of time, Chris  _actually_  felt it fade.

She turned her eyes at him and Chris became lost in the symphony of color of her blue eyes so astonishing they seemed to sparkle when she raised her brow at his reaction. His throat felt dry at seeing her lovely features, remembering that gentle flutter of excitement in his heart as the same when he had first laid eyes on Sarah. His breath caught when she pulled down her hood, revealing the flaxen hair of white gold that framed her exquisite face. She was beautiful in a very old way, in the manner that inspired poets to compose their most lusty sonnets. He could love her. If he dared to, he could actually give himself to her.

But he could also lose her and if anything pushed all thoughts of her from his mind, it was  _that_  possibility. A creature as lovely as she could never last. Her star was meant to burn bright but short and Chris was not going to ever be hurt that way again.

"This is your business." Chris rose to his feet abruptly, no longer looking at Mary. "I'll leave you to it."

She looked at him confused, uncertain why she was unsettled by his observation but assured that she was not in any physical danger because of it. Buck trusted him and that was good enough for her.

"Chris," Buck spoke up. "We could use your help." 

"I'm no good to you." Chris said abruptly and gestured at Inez to have a bottle ready by the time he reached the counter.

"You know better than that." Buck tried again but had a feeling he would not convince Chris because nothing could reach him any more. Not even him.

"No," Chris shook his head as he looked over his shoulder at the same time he extracted his bottle. "You should."


	4. The Imperial

Nathan Jackson was afraid.

It was an emotion he seldom felt even though as a soldier, he was familiar with it. It was a companion that sat on his shoulder during every battle and gave enough of itself to permit his survival. A little healthy fear gave one the edge they needed to pull through any situation and at this moment, Nathan was feeling more than a healthy dose. He was saturated by it. It was not that he feared dying, on the contrary if he could die now, that would make this whole situation somewhat tolerable. It was the fact he was still alive that gave him such anxiety.

His captors had not allowed him the chance to take the graceful exit from this world he desired when the net around him finally dropped. The first thing they had done was to remove the weapon he carried and then proceeded on towards a more humiliating body search to ensure he had nothing on his person that would allow him to shirk the mortal coil. Once they were assured that he could not harm himself, they lumped him in a maximum security cell, pleased with their catch as they resumed the search for his companion.

Nathan paced the floor of his cage; unable to believe he had fallen into such misfortune. He was terrified of what they would learn from him and knew this limbo inside the cell would not last. Eventually, they would come with their drugs and fire knives in order to make him talk. Torture did not frighten Nathan but succumbing to it did. He was a patriot of the Republic and the choices of his life was made because he would not sit by idly while the New Order destroyed life on a planetary scale. He knew what was asked of him when he became a member of the Rebel Alliance and he would have gladly died than forced to betray them. If there was any consolation to this, it was the fact he did not know the location to the new rebel base. At least that much of the Alliance's secrets would be safe.

His ponderings were interrupted by the sound of footsteps against the plate metal floor of the cell block. The moment he was captured, Imperial agents had him transported off Cordoba so Nathan had no idea where he was taken. However, while he did not know the location of his new prison, he did recognise it as a fully equipped and garrisoned Imperial base. As he was being brought to his cell through the hanger, he saw evidence of ships and personnel indicated the base was armed well enough to repel any attack from its enemies. Storm troopers patrolled the corridors; Imperial officers strutted about in their black and green uniforms. With a sinking feeling, Nathan realised even if the Alliance were to attempt a rescue, they would never penetrate such strong defenses.

Nathan's cell was a room with a bunk bed and a utility. It was no more than seven feet across in what was almost a solid block of steel. There were air vents allowing him to breathe but these were so narrow there was no escape route even if he was foolish enough to try it. The doors were thick and there was no internal locking mechanism. It could be opened only one way and that was from the outside. The sensors present in the room would closely monitor an interrogator entering the room and the device was embedded into the wall and protected by a small energy field should any enterprising escapee attempt to disrupt its function.

Nathan stiffened when the doors slid open and two Imperial officers appeared at the entrance. Behind them, were a number of storm troopers and Nathan supposed he ought to feel somewhat flattered by the estimation of his notoriety. However, his attention was soon swept away when he recognized one of the officers about to take part in his interrogation. The Colonel was no one Nathan was familiar with but judging by the black uniform, he was probably attached to internal security. He stared at Nathan dispassionately, like the predator preparing for a particular feast. Nathan had seen rancors with kinder eyes. 

His companion was a captain who was trying hard to hide the emotion in his eyes and would have succeeded if Nathan had not known him before and was aware of how to read his moods. The Captain looked at Nathan and then straight past him, his sea colored eyes fighting to hide his abhorrence at being in this position. Nathan decided there was no reason to burden the man with their association if he did not wish to use it and turned away a second later, breaking the brief eye contact.

"Captain Jackson." The Colonel finally spoke when the doors had slid close behind them.

Nathan did not answer, choosing to remain unmoved as they began their attempts at interrogation. He knew that this was only the preliminary stages. They would try and reason with him first, hoping that fear might help loosen his tongue. When that did not work, they would withdraw and come back with equipment that would not be as subtle or as comfortable.

"I am Colonel Taris Nabb of Internal Security. I assume you know what I do?"

"You're one of Palpatine's watchdogs men aren't you?" Nathan declared, hardly giving the man a glance.

Nabb's  face pulled back into a little smile, showing he was not offended. "A watchdog is such a vulgar term, I prefer to think I safeguard the interests of the Empire."

"The Empire is Palpatine." Nathan gave him a look of dislike at his inability to admit that much.

"He is our Emperor." Nabb reminded.

"He is _your_ Emperor." Nathan glared at him. "An illegal one at that. He was elected Chancellor of the Republic Council, not as God Emperor as he would have everyone believe. He destroyed the Republic and created the Empire for his own personal ambitions." Nathan turned to the Captain who had yet to speak and offered a silent question as to how he could still be wearing that uniform.

Nabb  noticed the look and turned his gaze back to Nathan second later, after a quick examination of his companion's emotional state. "I wouldn't look to Captain Standish to extricate you from this situation, Captain Jackson. It was he who identified you for us."

A flicker appeared in the Captain's eyes and Nathan knew it was the truth. His best friend betrayed him.

"In fact," Nabb continued. "Captain Standish has been absolutely essential in revealing your importance in the Rebel Alliance's network."

Nathan gave Captain Ezra Standish a look that bordered on anger and pity as he saw the truth of Nabb's words reflected in Ezra's eyes. Both men came through the Academy together. For most their years in service, they had often served side by side and when they could not, they were never far from each other's thoughts. Their friendship had endured much but it had never survived Palpatine's declaration making himself Emperor. Ezra was more content to let things happen as they unfolded. 

_Sometimes, you just had to live with what the dice rolls;_ he often quoted to Nathan. 

Nathan had never been able to sacrifice principal for career and had been unable to take advice. Although Ezra did not share his beliefs, he did not betray them. Fate had placed them on opposite sides and Nathan had to forget that Ezra had ever been his friend because it looked like Ezra already did.

"He did what he had to." Nathan finally responded and saw Ezra's surprise and deeper sorrow at his understanding. "He's one of you."

"You were one of us." Nabb pointed out. "You could be one again. You are not the first officer to have a crisis of faith but the duty of a soldier is to obey the chain of command. You cannot simply dismiss it at your convenience. Now, if you were to tell us what you know about the Alliance, I'm sure after a period of 'rehabilitation', you can be returned to society, with your rank and commission intact."

"I don't know anything that could help you." Nathan replied automatically, not about to be swayed by bribes.

"You have been a member of the Rebel Alliance almost since the beginning." Nabb countered not about to believe that story, especially when he knew better. "You know who its leaders are, where its bases may be located. You will give us that information, make no mistake on that. The choice on how you give it to us is entirely up to you. This can be a painless process or an agonizing one."

Staring him directly in the eyes, Nathan repeated himself. "I don't know anything."

"I suspected as much." Nabb sighed unsurprised by the stubbornness of the man. It would be eroded soon enough and Nabb was confident that Nathan Jackson would be more than willing to tell all in due course. They always started out this way but Nabb knew the application required in order to shatter that stiff will of resistance. "We'll meet again Captain Jackson," Nabb responded as he turned on his heels towards the door. He took a few steps forward until he realised Captain Standish had not moved.

"Captain...." He called out looking over his shoulder.

"I will be along shortly." Ezra Standish answered, meeting his commanding officer's gaze. "I thought I might have a little more luck convincing my old friend it is prudent to give us the information then to suffer the consequences."

"Very well." Nabb responded, sounding dubious as to Ezra's ability to accomplish that. However, he saw no reason to keep the captain from trying especially when everything said by the two would be closely monitored anyway.

Ezra returned his attention to Nathan and neither man spoke until the doors were closed behind them and they were offered some measure of privacy, though not much. For a time, neither knew what to say as they found themselves staring at each other across a great chasm, with an abyss of ideology and personal belief trapped in the middle.

"They were aware of us having served together." Ezra stated, aware that everything he was saying was being heard. "They had their suspicions regarding your identity, they merely required me to confirm it."

"And so you did." Nathan answered with a hint of bitterness.

"I did not have a choice in the matter." Ezra replied. "I am still an Imperial officer under orders and you are a member of the Rebel Alliance, how did you think I would behave?"

"Like someone who was my friend." 

"I am still your friend," Ezra whispered softly, unwilling to show Nathan's words had hurt him. "As your friend, I am telling you to give them what they want. The Emperor's orders on the Rebel Alliance is extremely brutal. He wants the movement destroyed. Nabb is one of the most ruthless interrogators in the Empire; he knows how to extract information. He will get what he wants from you, dead or alive."

"Then it will have to be dead." Nathan declared. "I will not give up anything to anyone."

"Then you are going to die." Ezra retorted. "I have no authority to prevent it. If you tell them what they need to know then you can walk out of this alive."

"Oh come on Ezra!" Nathan burst out in exasperation. "Weren't you the one who told me you could always spot a con from a mile off? Don't tell me you actually believe once I tell them what I know, that I'm going to live through this? The Emperor is about to begin the slavery of every non-human species in what was the galactic republic. You've seen what's coming. There is not one non-human officer in the fleet and that's how it's going to be throughout the Empire and you expect me to hand over the only people who can stop this? It's a shell game Ezra; the Emperor is softening us up for more atrocities than you can possibly believe. The segregation policy is only the beginning."

Ezra swallowed because deep inside he knew Nathan was right. "You do not know that for sure. You have been fed with Rebel propaganda."

"If I did not know for sure Ezra," Nathan said softly. "I wouldn't be willing to die to keep it from happening." Nathan paused a moment and then spoke further. "You were always a cynic Ezra, I knew that. Maybe that's why we were such good friends because you saw the way the galaxy was and I saw what I thought it could be. Now I'm telling you what it's going to be and it's a nightmare Ezra, its going to be a long nightmare for billions of people unless it's stopped now."

"I am sorry Nathan." Ezra responded, clearly shaken inside and not knowing what else to say. He was not blind to what was happening. The segregation Nathan spoke of was no longer mere rumor, it was policy. More and more, he was seeing gifted officers and personnel being discarded because they were not human. If Nathan believed things were due to get worse, Ezra did not doubt it. However, he was dubious if anything could fight the Imperial war machine and he did not know if he could be the idealist that Nathan was to make the effort. " I cannot help you."

Nathan expected as much and nodded. "I didn't expect you to help me Ezra, I just hoped that there was something inside you that sees what I'm saying is the truth."

"Truth is written by those who stay alive," Ezra said sourly, turning away from Nathan because facing him like this was becoming too much for him. He did not want to let Nathan die and yet he did not know of any way to prevent it except taking the ultimate step that would change his life forever. There was still too much doubt inside of him, not to mention hope that Nathan was wrong, that the Empire he served was not as unredeemable as he thought. "I think I would prefer to survive this than attempt to fight it. If you were smart, you would consider doing the same."

"I'm sorry for you," Nathan shook his head in distaste. "When I die, at least I know I did so believing in something. That's the difference between living and existing but you," he declared. "You believe in nothing and I can't call that living."

Ezra did not answer but continued walking. The door slid open for him before he reached it and in seconds, he was leaving Nathan behind in the cell. Ezra continued down the cell block, the storm trooper activating the door controls for him following closely behind.

"You knew him Sir?" The man asked.

"Once." Ezra found himself answering.

"I heard he won a medal in the Clone Wars." 

"He did." Ezra did not deny that and remembered when he and Nathan were young and felt like they could take on anything and did. Trying to chart the progress of how they had come to be in this place at this time, on opposite sides was a journey that left a bitter taste in Ezra's mouth.

"Wonder how the rebels got to him?" The trooper asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Oh that was relatively easy," Ezra sighed as images of Ana flashed before him. Ana with her dark hair and her radiant smile. "His wife was the daughter of a Jedi." 

* * *

It started to rain when Vin Tanner returned to the tavern later that night. He did not know why he was going back. There was no way he could sneak up on the Jedi when the man was able to sense him the minute he had stepped off his ship at the spaceport. However, Vin could not keep from returning because he had to face Chris Larabee again. The encounter with the man left the normally detached bounty hunter so unsettled it was unprecedented. Vin did not like feeling this way and yet everything that the Jedi had said to him was true.

He could  _feel_  it.

All his life, Vin relied upon his intuition to get him through the difficulties of his existence. That second sight he called his gut instinct had saved his life on more than one occasion. It provided him with an edge to detect enemies and guided him when he was travelling in places previously unknown to him. He trusted in this ability with more faith than he had trusted any one person in his entire life. However, he always wondered what it was that made him so different from other human, it allowed him to see when others could not. Vin saw the world in shades of emotions; he could feel what another being was about to do, even if he could not read their thoughts as such.  When he heard about the Jedi, he thought they were a fairy story told to children, just fiction.

Of course when he left Tatooine and went out into the galaxy, he learned the Jedi were real even if the Empire was systematically wiping them out. Vin never gave them a second thought beyond that until the Empire contracted him to find Chris Larabee. From the onset of this mission, he knew that something about it drew him to Larabee, something beyond the exorbitant fees the Empire was willing to pay, not to mentioned his continued existence as a free man. Even though he did not admit it to himself, the research material about the Jedi opened uncomfortable possibilities Vin did not want to deal with. It frightened him so badly he forced it into the back of his mind and not give it any more power over him than it already had.

The rain seeped into his skin, pulled his hair around his neck and dangled in wet droplets around his shoulders. It ran into his eyes and restricted his ability to see as clearly as he ought but Vin sensed no one around him with dangerous intent. Instead, he continued walking towards the tavern where he knew Larabee stayed. Even as he approached the building, he could sense the familiarity of the man emanating from the building. He was certain the Jedi sensed his approach too and Vin felt no need for the element of surprise because he did not come here to kill Chris Larabee, he had come here because he had to know the truth.

When he walked into the tavern soaking wet, and immediately noticed by Inez who was as usual behind her counter serving drinks to her customers. The patronage had thinned out even more and Vin suspected it was very near closing time for the Four Corners Tavern. Her eyes immediately flooded with concern as she cast her gaze upon him and reached beneath a bar to produce a small towel, which she handed to him when she emerged from behind the bar.

"You should not be out in this weather." She said sternly as the thunder crackled outside in agreement with her statement.

Vin wondered if she had forgotten only some hours ago, he had pulled a gun on Chris Larabee and threaten an innocent boy with his life in a booth not more than a few feet from where she stood now. He could not understand why she was treating him so well when he was the enemy. "Why?"

"Why?" She looked at him puzzled. "Because the storms on Cordoba is as bad as the heat waves."

"Why are you so nice to me?"

Inez smiled and looked at him. "I don't have the Force," she answered. "Not the way Chris does but I can sense things about people and I think you are a little lost and for the first time, you're starting to see the light even if it frightens you. I see the pain in your eyes and I see no reason to add to it."

Vin wanted to question her further about what she knew but decided it would be a waste of time. The answers he needed had to come from Larabee. "I need to see him." 

Inez nodded and showed him the way. Chris occupied a room above the tavern and as Inez led Vin there, he had the impression she did not allow many lodgers for as they stepped into the corridor, he noted that many of the rooms though prepared for patrons were empty. Vin sensed that there was some hidden purpose to this action and wondered whether Inez was more than she appeared to be. Was she simply a bartender or was there more to her? It was a question for another time because at the moment, Vin's primary interest was in seeing Chris Larabee.

"I don't know how coherent he will be." Inez offered as she opened the door to Chris's room.

"Coherent?" Vin asked.

"He's been drinking." She said sadly and stepped away, leaving Vin to deal with the Jedi.

Vin nodded slowly and entered the room, preparing to deal with anything. He had no more closed the door behind him when he heard Chris's voice.

"What do you want?"

Vin saw the Jedi sitting up on his bed, nursing a bottle that was nearly empty. Clad only in his dark pants, the rest of his clothes were an unruly heap on the floor, including more empty bottles of liquor. Vin suddenly realised if he wanted to take the Jedi to his Imperial masters, now would be the time to do it. Chris was almost certainly drunk and his ability to put up much resistance would be minimal. However, as the thought crossed Vin's mind, the bounty hunter knew he could not do it. The Jedi had awakened the need for answers and until that desire was satisfied, everything else could wait.

"I don't know." Vin whispered and it was the truth. He wanted answers but he would have been quite content if Chris told him that it was all a trick of deception that the Jedi had been playing on him.

Chris sat up further in the bed and took a final swig of whatever was left in the bottle before tossing it aside. He turned that powerful gaze onto the bounty hunter and said nothing for a few seconds as he observed him. "You want to know if I was lying."

"I am not Jedi." Vin declared with almost childish defiance.

"No you're not," Chris did not disagree and thought it was incredibly funny that this bounty hunter would find out the truth about himself when there was no longer any need for his kind. "But you  _do_  have the Force." He added, knowing that was the question at the heart of Vin's appearance here.

"I don't believe in the Force." Vin retaliated. "It's a fairy tale."

Chris snorted in derision and narrowed his eyes as he stared at Vin hard, appearing as if he were in the grips of mild concentration. 

"You were born on Tatooine. The only family you ever had was your mother and she died when you were five or six. You have images of her inside your mind but nothing more concrete than that. The clearest memory you do have of her is the fact before she died, she told you that you were a Tanner and no one could take that away from you."

Vin's jaw dropped open when Chris finished his recital, his mind reeling in shock at the revelation of the memory he had never told  _anyone_. 

"How did you know?" He stammered.

"You're wide open and easy to read." Chris responded. "You project as much as you sense from other beings."

"I don't want this." Vin managed to say, feeling exposed and unable to hide under the Jedi's stare. For the first time in his life he felt vulnerable and out of control. It was not a feeling he liked. "I don't want the Force."

"It's not a choice." Chris answered without sympathy. After the losses he had incurred in his life, his ability to be touched by another was slight. "We become Jedi because we answer to something greater than ourselves and the belief we can add to the substance of the universe. Not all the Jedi were warriors, some were teachers, healers and explorers. For a thousand years, we ensured the peace and it was a good feeling to know that when we served the Force, others were benefited. It takes a great deal of commitment to be a Jedi even if one is strong in the Force. There are sacrifices to be made by those who take the training. You are strong in the Force and you could have done anything with your life, even if you did not wish to be a Jedi but what are you? You're a human scavenger. You use the Force to hunt men down like animals. You come here expecting what from me? Understanding?"

"I did what I had to survive." Vin stammered. "I don't make any excuses for it."

"I'm not here for your absolution." Chris retorted. "You want to shoot me and take me in, that's your prerogative. I don't care any more. The Jedi are gone with the exception of a small few who managed to hide from Vader and his Emperor. I'm here on borrowed time anyway, eventually they'll get me too."

"But you said they would know me." Vin pointed out. "You said that they could sense me."

Chris looked at him and laughed. "You don't have to worry. There's a vast difference between having the Force and being able to use it as Jedi. Vader will know you're hardly a threat to him. They'll kill you if you come into their sights, make no mistake on that but they won't exactly be hunting you down."

Vin did not like the idea of that at all even if Chris' words came with something of a reassurance. "And you're just going to sit here and wait for them?" He looked at the Jedi and wondered why he suddenly cared.

"If that's my destiny." Chris nodded. "Why do you care anyway?"

Vin opened his mouth to speak but stop himself from saying what he wanted to and altering his answer significantly. "I don't care." He retorted as he turned away, deciding  he had enough revelation for today. However as he left Chris Larabee to his drunken state, Vin knew he was lying because for the first time, he suddenly felt like he was not entirely alone in the galaxy.

For the first time, Vin had met someone who made him feel like he was apart of something even if that something was the Jedi.


	5. Bait

"We know where he is." Josiah Sanchez informed them after his return to the  _Rogue_  where Buck was presently giving Mary and his new young companion, shelter from storm troopers patrols and unscrupulous operators alike. Buck who spent enough time ferrying people as he did cargo, equipped the ship to be amply comfortable for his passengers and was more than happy to provide a safe haven for the lovely rebel leader. While JD Dunne was in no such danger from the Empire, Buck was certain the youth was no safer than Mary should he fall prey to the likes of beings like Nardo.

Josiah withdrew for the evening once he had been certain that Mary was in safe hands in order to make contact with the rebel underground, in the hopes of garnering some information regarding the whereabouts of Nathan Jackson. Judging by the determination of the Imperial storm troopers who were still scouring the city, they were certain Nathan had indeed been captured and the Empire was maintaining the search in order to apprehend the person he had been seen with prior to his capture. An Imperial patrol had come on board the  _Rogue_  and found nothing out of the ordinary, mostly because Buck had hidden his guests in secret compartments he installed in his ship since becoming a rebel collaborator.

For the reasons of security, Mary had chosen not to accompany Josiah when he went into town to contact his operatives. There was no reason to compromise their security by exposing them to her. Josiah’s network of contacts and informants was a valuable resource and not one to squander if she were captured and coerced into talking. She also felt at this time there was no reason for her to know the location of the rebel base although she did know the scrambler frequency should any further misfortune occurs. Until the present crisis passed, Mary intended to limit the level of damage she could do to the rebellion in the event of capture.

However, this did not mean Josiah was not in any kind of danger himself. Although Josiah was a wanted man, having resigned his senatorial position instead of fleeing like some of his comrades was forced to do, there was no doubt he was no supporter of Palpatine. Mary did not put it past the Emperor to have his lackeys keeping close surveillance on Josiah. Further more, there was also Nathan to consider. Even though it had been hours since he was captured, Mary could not be certain the rebel captain might not have been forced to talk. She was more than aware of the insidious devices the Empire employed to break their prisoners and though she knew Nathan would die before revealing any of their secrets, she understood he might not have a choice in the matter.

"Where?" Buck Wilmington asked as they converged in what was the main passenger compartment of his ship. The compartment was furnished with comfortable seats that were bolted to the floor surrounding a circular table that acted not only as a dining surface but also as a gaming table for a small selection of holo-vids.

"They're keeping him in the Imperial stronghold on Cordoba." Josiah answered as he removed his cloak and sat down in one of the vacant seats. The group had just sat down to dine when Josiah had arrived and Mary poured him a drink from the bottle of spice wine that Buck had produced from his ship's stores among his other rations.

"There's not much of an Imperial presence there." Mary remarked, knowing something of the station on Cordoba. Its purpose on the world was mostly to act as the local constabulary with a handful of ships whose duty was to protect the ships using the main space lanes from the threat of smugglers and pirates. This far from the core worlds, the danger of such renegades was very real but by the same token, the majority of commercial enterprises taking place this far out was not exactly sanctioned by the Empire either. "They are equipped with enough men to police the city and man the ships needed to guard the space lanes. They’re not a facility equipped to deal with a prisoner of Nathan’s importance. Most of the officers and personnel on the Cordoba station do not get posted here voluntarily. Chances are their orders would be to hold him until someone with more expertise can interrogate him."

"You're right," Josiah nodded and unbidden in his admiration at her acumen in already realising what he was about to reveal. "The fortune of having Imperial personnel who aren’t exactly Grand Moff material is they’re easily bought. My contact, one such example, informs me at the moment they’ve been given strict orders no one be allowed to speak to him because he is to be moved in five hours. They’re taking him off world on an Imperial shuttle."

"That means they'll have to rendezvous with a warship of some kind," Mary declared after processing that information. "They'll take him to a fully secured Imperial installation where they will begin the interrogation, most likely by an expert in torture. They’ll break him by any means necessary or they’ll kill him in the process." She did not want to add how many friends, loyal followers of the Alliance who had succumbed to torture even though they were the stoutest believers of the movements and its principles.

"If he talks..." Buck shuddered to think of the far reaching implications that could have. Nathan not only knew much about the Rebel Alliance's secrets but he also had a good knowledge of most of its undercover operatives, Buck included. Although he felt ashamed to think it, Buck knew that if Nathan was forced to reveal that information, he would be just as marked. He was mortified by his selfishness even if the fear was perfectly justified.

"Well he hasn't yet," Mary stated firmly, refusing to allow such dark thoughts to creep into their minds when there was still a chance they might be able to save the man. Such an atmosphere of gloom was more crippling to Nathan’s plight than even the formidable defences awaiting them if they attempted a rescue. Easing back into her seat, she nursed the glass in her hand and considered their options, or rather option since there seemed to be only one real solution to the problem.

"Once he gets where he’s going, we'll never reach him. We can be assured of that if nothing else." This was a statement of fact that none of them could refute but Mary’s manner indicated she was already attempting to circumvent this obstacle as her eyes sparkled with the glimmer of the plan taking shape in her mind.

"They’ll have to rendezvous with another ship. They can’t intend to take him wherever he has to go on a shuttle. One X-wing is enough to knock that bird out of the sky, I can’t believe they won’t be sending something with a little more teeth. I’m guessing it’s a Star Destroyer that will make the rendezvous with them." Buck extrapolated.

"Yes," Mary nodded. "That’s what I thought too. We have the same problem there. If he is taken on board a Star Destroyer, we’ll never get him back. The Emperor has perceived just how much of a threat the Alliance is to him and he’ll stop at nothing to get to us."

"Nice to be wanted." Josiah joked even though there was no humour in his expression. In truth, he was trying to be brave, to be the paragon of control and serenity everyone always expected him to be. Sometimes, Josiah could be just as unsettled and afraid as the next person. He was just more practised at hiding it because there was still something left of the politician he once was.

"Excuse me Miss Travis," JD spoke up, having listened all this time and finally feeling bold enough to make a suggestion. He felt himself to be in heady company and though he knew that consorting with them was enough to get him thrown into a prison cell forever as a rebel conspirator, JD could not help admire their devotion to their comrade. JD could not believe people who cared so much about their own could be the disruptive elements the Empire claimed. Besides, Buck had helped him even though there was no reason for the pilot to do so. "Can we get to him before the shuttle reaches the Destroyer?"

Mary gave the young man a radiant smile and answered. "I was thinking the same thing."

"Really?" JD asked, feeling a little relieved that he had not made a fool of himself and was inordinately proud that he had made the same guess as a seasoned military officer.

"Yes," she gave him a little wink and turned back to Buck. "A shuttle can carry a decent regiment of Imperial troops but they’re not much of a threat in close quarters. Certainly they can surround Nathan and make boarding a very complicated process but in actual truth, when it is in space, that will be when the shuttle is at its most vulnerable. " She continued speaking now that JD had given her an opening to lay out her plan. "If we can intercept the ship on route to meet the Destroyer and then detonate a low level dispersion field against the hull, it could create enough electrostatic shock to render everyone onboard unconscious for a short time."

"Enough for us to get on board and grab Nathan without any fuss." Buck grinned, liking the idea of snatching Nathan from right under the Empire's noses. There seemed something oddly satisfying about it. "He’ll have a little headache but he won’t be any worse for wear."

"Sounds like a plan." Josiah nodded his approval. "We don’t have much time though." He reminded, injecting some minor points of reality they had to remember into the conversation. "We can’t get our people here in time to make the interception." He glanced at Buck hoping the pilot understood what he meant by that. Until this moment, they had been operating on the assumption it would be a rebel cell who would be undertaking the rescue, however the reality of the situation made that impossible. Five hours was not enough to time to throw together an operation with this level of sensitivity.

"I’ll go." Buck replied, letting out a heavy sigh. "My neck is just as much on the block as Nathan’s." The pilot raised his eyes to meet Josiah’s. "If they make him talk, then my involvement is going to come out and I’ll be just as marked. If I’m going to be an outlaw, it might as well be by doing this instead of anything else."

"Thank you Buck," Mary offered him a warm smile. "Well that’s you and me."

"I’ll come with you." JD spoke up.

"Absolutely not." Buck said automatically without even having to think about it. "Not a chance in hell." 

"I agree JD," Mary responded. "This is very dangerous. You have no reason to put your whole life in danger. I thank you for the thought but we won’t let you throw your future away."

"Future?" JD looked at her pointedly. "What future?" He retorted. "If the Empire is going to do half of what you said it will, I don’t have much of a future. I almost became a slave today because the Empire lets that sort of thing happen right under its noses. I don’t want to see that happen to anyone else and if fighting them is what it takes then I’m all for it. Buck," JD turned to the older man. "I don’t know you that long but I know I trust you and I also know that you wouldn’t be willing to risk your life for something that wasn’t important. I want to come with you because I want to risk my life for something that’s worth fighting for too."

Buck was not easily convinced but JD appeared determined. "Kid, do you know what could happen to you if we’re caught?"

"Yeah," JD nodded. "I do and I also think that I’m old enough to make the choice. You need my help anyway. If you run into any Imperial ships, you can’t fly the  _Rogue_  and fight them off at the same time. I’m not a great pilot but I know my way around a gunnery turret. I use to do a lot of target shooting when I was pod racing to clear the obstacles in the circuit. I know I can help you."

"Are you sure son?" Josiah questioned the boy once more, impressed by his words and having the strangest feeling that JD was going to surprise them all. "Once you come with us, there’s no turning back."

JD offered the older man a wan smile. "I don’t think there was any turning back the moment I hopped a transport to leave home. Yeah, I’m sure."

Josiah nodded and turned to Buck. "Kid sounds like he knows his mind."

Buck frowned, not at all happy about the decision he was about to make but realising he had no choice. JD was right, he did need help and it was also his choice to fight the battles he wanted. The fight for a better tomorrow was a good a reason as any to die. Buck supposed he had no right to stand in JD’s way.

"Alright," Buck retorted finally. "You can come with us but you listen to every thing I tell you, you hear me?"

"I hear you," JD replied grinning, too pleased that he was being allowed to go to argue with any of Buck’s conditions.

"We should get going soon," Mary announced once the issue of JD was settled.

"Mary," Josiah took a deep breath as he prepared to say what he was about to, fully aware she would not like it. However, for what they were about to do, he could not remain silent either. "I think you should stay."

Mary blinked and stared at the former senator as if he had gone utterly insane. "Stay? What do you mean stay?"

"I mean between the two of us, you have more recent contact with the Alliance headquarters. If this rescue attempt goes wrong, then you will be more danger to the Alliance with what you know than I would be. What I know can only hurt the local cell but what you know can damage the entire organisation."

"I am not going to stay behind and let you do the fighting for me Josiah." Mary said imperiously, her eyes blazing at the mere suggestion. "The three of you can't take on that ship!"

"We’re not taking on the ship," Buck added his voice to Josiah’s argument, infuriating the rebel leader even more. "We’re going to board a shuttle full of unconscious people, take the one we want and get the hell out before anyone comes too. In actual truth, it’s really a minimal personnel operation."

"Oh really?" Mary folded her arms and looked at him dubiously. "This would not be some archaic masculine attempt to protect me?"

"Would I be so base?" Buck stared at her dubiously, his face full of mock hurt. "I only get archaic when I treat women like sex objects."

Mary rolled her eyes. "I admire your ability to be so distinct."

"Mary," Josiah spoke once more, his voice taking on a note of seriousness, she knew she could not stand up to because he seldom used it unless he was right. It was the voice  made him such an able orator in the Senate and why the body was sorely missed without his presence making debates. "You know we have to make sacrifices for the cause. You can’t place yourself at risk. We need you too much. The rest of us," he glanced at Buck and JD. "Are expendable but you’re not."

"Thanks." Buck muttered but could not refute Josiah’s words.

Mary felt the sudden rise of bile in her throat and she forced it away to put on a brave face. Inwardly, she knew he was right. She had to stay behind. Risking one of them was acceptable but two was foolhardy. He was also correct in that she knew too much about the Alliance’s hierarchy to risk capture by accompanying them on this mission.

And she knew  sacrifices needed to be made by all of them.

Even if that sacrifice was her pride.

* * *

They were playing some kind of game with him.

That was the only thing that Nathan could fathom as he continued this endless waiting game trapped inside his cell. Ever since his meeting with Ezra, Nathan was waiting for the interrogation to begin, certain they would make him endure all kinds of torture in order to extract the information he would never give them alive. Nathan steeled himself for the agony and was resolved to die in the effort to resist. When he joined the movement, he knew he could be called upon to make such a sacrifice and he had no fear of dying, though like any rational person he would like to avoid death if he could. However, he lived by a soldier’s code all his life and did not find dying for what he believed to be a distasteful way to end his life.

However, as the seconds ticked by and the minutes stretched into hours, Nathan could feel a little of that resolve shaking as the waiting game began. With nothing to do but wait in silence for the inevitable, he realised he was falling prey to the psychological effects of the mind game they were playing with him. He refused to get caught in their cruel attempts to erode his patience and knew if this was a waiting game then he was only in the initial stages of it. Perhaps they were attempting a different tact beyond torture, aware Nathan would never give them what they needed, no matter how much pain he was subjected to and the disadvantages of such interrogation would only lose them their victim.

As the time continued to stretch forward in long, tedious blocks, Nathan found himself pacing the floor of his cell, talking to himself and doing everything required to occupy his mind and not allow it to become sluggish and more susceptible to coercion. He wondered if Ezra had any part of this plan and was overcome with the sensation of sadness over the loss of his friendship with the man. Despite his attempts to hide it earlier, the exchange with Ezra had been just as emotionally draining for him as he was sure it would have been to his oldest friend in the world. Nathan knew it was not Ezra’s fault they now found themselves on opposite sides. Circumstances had changed the world they knew and drew a line of battle straight through their friendship. Inwardly, Nathan knew this day would come. Ever since he had chosen to join the Alliance, he knew that it would be inevitable.

He wondered whether Ezra had known it too.

Ezra had been the first person Nathan met when he had joined the Academy. Their friendship had seen them through much including Ezra’s presence at his matrimonial ceremony to Ana. Thinking of Ana made the pain doubly worse and in the confines of his lonely cell, Nathan forced the images of her away from his mind. If she were still alive, they would have been celebrating their eight wedding anniversary. It was Ana’s death that had been the impetus for him to leave the Empire behind even though the current political changes had been gnawing at his conscience prior to that.

It was odd how love could alter the course of a man’s life even when the object of that affection no longer breathed in this world. He had not been there when she died but when the news of the purges reached him, he had raced home praying that the executioners would not have been so ruthless in the undertaking of their orders. Ana had never shown any interest in becoming a Jedi even though her father sat on the Jedi Council and was a Jedi Master. She was a schoolteacher on Coruscant, a very good one because the Force gave her the ability to empathise with her students on a very personal level.

Although no one dared point a finger at the Empire over the deaths, everyone knew who was responsible for the slaughter. The Emperor’s dislike of the Jedi was almost a fanatical crusade and to the select few who suspected he was a Sith Lord, it made even more sense. However, by then Palpatine was firmly in power and those who would keep him there, were just as secure. Ana’s death went unanswered and Nathan walked away from the last remnants of his old life, including Ezra. Nathan felt no real animosity towards his old friend for remaining an Imperial officer. Ezra’s background was chequered to say the least and his world had always been one of shadows, where injustices occurred more often than they should. If there had been an idealist inside Ezra Standish once, the years had surely driven him away.

Ezra’s background was far removed from Nathan’s own privileged upbringing. Nathan’s father was an ambassador while Ezra barely even knew his own father and was mostly raised by a mother who kept company with the likes of Jabba the Hutt and the Black Sun criminal organisation. The lady mostly resided in NalHutta these days, where she was known to be an associate of the Hutt gangsters and often represented them in negotiations.

It was into this world Ezra had become a man and from this he was desperate to escape. He gained admission into the Academy but was never truly regarded as anything more than the offspring of an unsavoury parent. The action made him determined to show his peers he was better than they and Nathan recalled how voraciously Ezra had strove to excel. However, though he succeeded at the Academy, his military career was lack lustre. Nathan knew that it was not for the lack of ability for he always thought Ezra had the shrewdest mind but there was something about his old friend that told Nathan that Ezra did not like to try because he was afraid to fail.

It was during all these ruminations the door to his cell slid open and his friend made his sudden appearance. Ezra entered the room alone this time and Nathan was further confused by what the Imperials were intending for him. Did they think his association with Ezra would make him betray the Rebellion? If so, they were in for a disappointment, Nathan snorted. As much as he valued his friendship with Ezra or what smoky ruins remained of it, he would never betray the Alliance.

"What do you want?" Nathan asked, fired by that thought when he asked his question.

"I came to see how you were faring in this Spartan environment." Ezra remarked, casting his gaze over the cell with obvious dislike.

"I’m doing fine." Nathan replied coolly. "Are you here to soften me up?"

"No," Ezra shook his head. "They are not particularly interested in you Nathan."

"I’m sure they aren’t," he said dubiously, knowing better. He had a great deal of information in his head he was certain they would love to get their hands on. Ezra may be here out of some memory to their past friendship but he could not be foolish enough to think that the Empire would not torture him to get what they wanted.

"You do not understand my commanding officer," Ezra sighed giving Nathan a long look. "He does not wish to capture minions that reside at the bottom of the food chain. He is after someone with a little more information. You do have tasty morsels inside your head Nathan, that is without doubt but I believe he may be interested in a feast."

Nathan began to develop a very bad feeling about what Ezra was inferring. It was always so damned hard to read the man, even though they were best friends. Aside from being an Imperial officer, Ezra was also the best damned card player this side of the galaxy and his ability to wear a poker face like no other was a testament to this fact. However, through the cracks of his indifferent facade, Nathan began to see what Ezra was trying to tell him without actually coming out and saying it.

"They’re not after me are they?" He whispered when the awful truth dawned onhim.

"Nabb was aware that someone of importance was arriving on Cordoba but did not have any of the details. When an informant served you to him and he was unsuccessful in locating your companion, he altered his plan somewhat and decided to exploit your capture." Ezra could not look him in the eyes as he explained everything.

Nathan’s breath caught in his throat as the full implications of what Ezra was trying to tell him seeped into his mind. "I’m bait?"

Ezra nodded sombrerly. "I am afraid you are. I do know once the real target is acquired, they  _will_  execute you."

This did not surprise Nathan. He had more or less expected such an outcome but gave it no more thought than that because he was too frightened for the person they intended to catch because of him. It did not take him long to realise whom it was they really wanted and knowing that filled the captain with no small amount of despair.

"Mary." He raised his eyes and caught Ezra’s. "You’re after Mary."

"She is one of the most brilliant commanders in the fleet, did you think the Empire was simply going to allow all that potential to be used for the service of its enemies?" Ezra asked softly. "They will do anything to retrieve her Nathan and they will use  _anyone_. You are nothing to them, a pawn that has served its purpose briefly.  Nabb wanted  _me_  to be the one to tell you, you have been scheduled for termination as soon as Commander Travis is in custody."

"She isn't in custody yet," Nathan said defiantly, unable to look at Ezra even though he could tell that it gave his old friend no pleasure to be the one who revealed the truth to him. "She's not stupid enough to take the bait. If she has to sacrifice me for the cause, I'm sure she will."

"Nathan," Ezra shook his head sadly because Nathan did not see. "Why did you think Nabb wanted  _you_  captured so badly? If it were anyone else, he would not have bothered but you are too important to the Rebellion to be left to languish in our hands. They used you because they knew you would bring her out."

"You keep saying 'them'," The prisoner glared at him and pointed out. "You're one of them Ezra."

"Maybe so," Ezra returned not about to let that minor detail obscure everything else. "But I am still your friend."

"Then be a friend," the dark man said angrily. "Get out. You've done your bit, you've told me I'm the worm twisting on the hook. I release you from any obligation you think you have towards me because all you've become is that uniform."

"I am not the one who destroyed our friendship!" Ezra shouted angrily, feeling the sting of those words more than he would like. "You did that when you turn your back on your life!"

"My life was over when Ana died!" 

"No it was not," Ezra hissed as he started towards the door. "But when they capture Mary Travis, it will be."


	6. Destroyer

JD Dunne watched the tumbling formations of iron and rock floating before the cockpit window and could not deny that for a common astronomical phenomenon, the asteroid field before him had a beauty of its own. His eyes glimmered at the elegance of the soundless dance, watching the large pieces of spacial flotsam, some as small as a rock able to fit into his palm while others the sizes of small moons, swirled around the  _Rogue_  as if it were the epicentre of a giant vortex. Despite his desire not to appear like the awe struck farm boy that he was, JD could not hide the effect of seeing the vastness of space in such a breathtaking vista. When he had come to Cordoba on the passenger cruiser, the observation deck was crowded with travellers and the mystery of what lay beyond was lost in a chatter of commenting voices and snapping holo-vids. To see it like this, to actually be able to appreciate it in all its fullness was something to behold and JD knew that the moment would be with him forever.

It was also when one was out here in all this vastness he was fully able to comprehend what he embarked upon and weigh the decision made as more than some obligation he felt he needed to fulfil to Buck Wilmington for saving him from the Rodian. It put things in perspective somewhat, to know that the universe was much larger than himself and that it, most of all needed to be protected and though he was small, he was a part of its cycle. And every part no matter how small had to show its worth for something that was greater than itself. JD had very little contact with the Empire while he had been on Odete but its injustices did not escape even that small backwater. He always thought it was something for someone else to worry about but when he listened to Mary, he knew it was not the case.

He never met anyone like her. When she spoke of freedom, they were more than just high minded words of grandiose idealism, it was something that could be felt, like a tangible shape or an elixir once taken, could not be done without. When she was forced to remain behind on Cordoba, he could see the pain in her eyes was real, the sorrow from wounds he could not even begin to imagine and the weight of the terrible responsibility that bore down on her slender shoulders. She was not very old and yet her eyes felt ancient and JD wondered what had put her on this course and made her so very sad. For at the heart of knowing her importance in the scheme of things, there was also this acceptance that it had her trapped in amber. JD could not imagine what it was like to have that kind of burden upon oneself.

"How you doing kid?" Buck Wilmington asked as he stepped into the cockpit.

"Pretty good." JD answered, his gaze not moving from the cockpit window.

Buck felt a small smile steal across his lips remembering what it was like the first time he took a ship into the air on his own. The feeling was indescribable and to a certain extent, never really left him. There was still a part of him who remained the same wild youth who climbed into the seat of that Corellian T25 and blasted off for a round trip to Selonia. He looked at JD and felt slightly envious of the boy’s youth as well as protective at the same time. It was a strange feeling.

"I’ve been watching the scanner." JD replied, feeling the need to let Buck know that he was doing something other than occupying space. He knew that Buck had deep reservations for his being here and though JD could not blame him for that, he did not want to further prove Buck’s point by seeming inept as well. "I remember what you told me and it doesn’t look like there’s any one else around."

"There won’t be," Buck replied handing JD a cup of hot cider as he sat down in his Captain’s chair. "You’ll see the shuttle but not the Destroyer. She’ll come out of hyperspace right on top of the rendezvous coordinates to surprise anyone stupid enough to still be around when she gets here."

"Did you ever serve on a Destroyer?" JD inquired, realising that though he liked Buck very much, he really did not know much about the man. However, his ability to trust Buck was beyond the purview of mere data, there was something inside of him, an instinct perhaps that knew Buck was someone he could rely on and so far, the man had  not  disappointed.

"Yeah," Buck nodded. "I actually served on one with Nathan. That’s how we met. He was a bridge officer and I was a fighter pilot. Of course back then, it wasn’t the Empire we were serving, it was the Republic."

"Was it much different?" JD asked. On his home world, governments really did not make much difference to what was mostly a rural population. They had been very insular on his world and JD did not realise how much until he stepped into the space port on Cordoba.

"Oh yeah," the Captain of the _Rogue_ smiled warmly. "It was very different." He eased back into his chair and remembered the days of the Republic when wearing the uniform of  a Republic officer meant something. "What we did meant something back then and there was never any confusion about why we were doing it. It was worth something to believe in what you’re doing, to know that in our own way, you’re helping someone."

"Is that where you met Chris?" The boy had been curious to ask about the Jedi and how Buck had come to know him but was perceptive enough to know that it was a delicate subject. Buck obviously cared very much for the former Jedi but he was also fearful for the man.

"Nah," Buck shook his head. "Chris and I met when we were on Corellia. He was a Jedi apprentice, what they call  _Padwan_ learners and I was fresh at the Corellian Space Academy. We just seem to run into each other a lot and got to be friends. He wasn’t like he is now, back then he was fun to be around, even for a Jedi. He always seemed to have a handle on things, even when he was still learning how to be one. Drove his Master nuts I can tell you but then the Jedi are a strange bunch."

"The Jedi have been around for thousands of years," Josiah insinuated himself into the conversation with that opening remark after entering the dimly lit confines of the cockpit. "Their traditions are steeped in such age, we have no idea really when the first one emerged although some believe they have always been. Josiah sat down in one of the passenger seats behind JD's co-pilot chair and continued speaking. "I remember as a boy, my father used to tell me the stories of the Jedi. Always loved the stories, just didn't have the stuff to be one."

"The stuff?" JD looked at them both blankly.

"Well, Josiah sat forward and said in a low voice.  "In the blood stream of almost every life form we have encountered in ten thousand years of star charting, no matter how different, it appears that there is only one thing that binds us together. It is a life form in the blood called midiclorions. The Jedi believed they were created when the universe was born which is why the distribution of these things are so wide spread and indiscriminate. Whatever the truth, midiclorions appear to amplify the Force in the host bodies they occupy and the strongest concentrations of midiclorions are almost always found in the bloodstreams of Jedi Knights."

"So why can't you just inject yourself with midiclorions to become a Jedi?" 

"Doesn't work that way," Buck retorted automatically, remembering discussing the subject with Chris once. "The midiclorions adapt themselves to the host body so transferring them from one to another simply makes them inert."

"I like to think of it as keeping a balance on things. The cosmic way of making sure your destiny remains as it should be." Josiah grinned.

JD was about to ask another question when suddenly the cockpit filled with sound. The gentle beeping immediately drew Buck's attention to the cockpit controls and the captain's easy expression hardened as he noted the reason for the electronic alert. "The shuttle's coming into range now." He announced.

What they were proposing was indeed risky because they had no idea of the time the shuttle would rendezvous with the Destroyer. It was the reason why they came here and waited all these hours to ensure that they could act as soon as the vessel arrived. The margin of time could be as lengthy as hours or it could be a matter of minutes, whatever the case, they had to act now. Buck immediately took the ship off autopilot and assumed command of his ship once more.

"Strap yourselves in." He ordered as the decks of the  _Rogue_  began rumbling when the main thrusters of the ship ignited.

"Here we go," Josiah muttered as he complied with Buck's order and watched through the cockpit as the ship disengaged itself from the large asteroid it was attached to and began soaring into open air. As they sped out of the asteroid field that had given them shelter as they waited for their quarry, Josiah had to marvel at the skill with which Buck Wilmington flew his ship. He glanced sideways and noted the same awed expression on JD's face as the youth watched the seasoned star pilot at his best.

Buck's hands seemed to fly over the controls and while navigating through an asteroid field ought to give anyone reason to fear, there was not the slightest bit of concern on the man's face. The  _Rogue_  sailed past the hurtling blocks of rock and iron, often missing them by the narrowest of margins. The ship tilted and swayed in the effort to evade the large denizens of this area, always skimming the periphery of disaster it seemed but never managing to get caught by it. Buck seemed capable of anticipating all of it. Even though he had an on board computer that gave him a detailed view of the field he was traversing, Josiah noted that he preferred to use his cockpit window. The visual data seen through his eyes worked in tandem with his reflexes and Josiah saw his fingers simply fly over the controls with no need for anticipation or second thought.

"How do you do that?" JD asked.

"What?" Buck responded offhandedly, his attention still focussed on the cockpit window as he navigated through the asteroid field.

"You're not even looking at the controls." 

Buck chuckled slightly. "I don't have to kid, I just feel them. It's my ship, I know where everything is."

"No kidding," JD responded, unable to hide the admiration in his voice.

Silence felt over the cabin as the  _Rogue_  escaped the maelstrom of rock and debris and entered the serenity of open space. The view ahead changed into the immense canopy of stars that seemed to swallow the ship as it entered its expansive maw. A low whine filled the cockpit briefly as Buck flicked another switch on the console. "I'm jamming them." He explained for the benefit of those with him. "Standard procedure would have them send out a scrambled code to the Destroyer who's probably waiting to come out in hyperspace."

"How much time do we have?" Josiah asked.

"Unknown." Buck shook his head after glancing at the readings on the console screen at one corner of the cockpit control panel. "But they started transmitting almost as soon as they could which means the Destroyer is not that far away. I think I manage to jam them before they got a full cycle out but I can't be sure. We're going to have to do this quickly."

"I kind of prefer it that way myself." Josiah remarked while JD's fingers subconsciously sank deeper into the armrests of his seat.

"Alright," Buck spoke up. "We're going in full throttle."

As he made that statement, the Rogue exploded forward and suddenly, the stars rushed past them at frightening speed. The shuttle in the distance, evolved from a tiny speck to something more substantial with shapes and lines as the  _Rogue_  closed in on it. During this swift approach, Buck's fingers flew deftly over the controls; with a flurry of movement that made it impossible to tell when he had carried out one operation and ended another.

The shuttle had been holding position and still did not move when it saw the approaching ship. Buck wondered about this momentarily because the  _Rogue_  was coming at them on what was definitely an attack vector. Any pilot worth his salt would know that. Ugly thoughts began to surface in his mind as he continued the process of arming the beam of energy he would send at the small ship in order to polarize the hull. As he configured the pattern of energy to be delivered by his forward energy banks, the _Rogue_ continued to narrow the space between ships. The shuttle still did not make any effort to move out of the way.

The disturbance he felt inwardly began to take shape. He had to confirm this. Reaching over to the ship's sensors, Buck made a perfunctory scan of the shuttle. It should have been fully loaded with a complement of storm troopers; a prisoner of Nathan's importance deserved nothing less. However, when the information returned to him after the brief investigation by the ship, Buck's worse fears were realised. There were only two life forms on board the shuttle and Buck had clairvoyance enough in the matter to guess immediately that neither of them was Nathan.

"I'm turning the ship around." Buck stated and hastily disengaged his rear thrusters to make a course change.

"What?" Josiah asked sitting up in his seat. "What's wrong?"

"There's only two people on that ship." He replied as the view in front of the  _Rogue_  revealed and abrupt change in the direction the vessel was headed. The shuttle swept out of you and the trail the stars left sparkles in their eyes when Buck swung the ship around.

"That's impossible." Josiah exclaimed. "My informants told me that Nathan was being escorted to another ship to be transported to an Imperial installation."

"Well either they changed their minds or their security leaves a lot to be desired. In any case, we're getting out of here." 

He did not voice what he actually suspected and knew that it was probably too late but he refused to give up so easily and certainly without a fight. His only regret at this point was JD was with them and would have his life ended before it even began. That really bothered Buck more than the reality the Empire would probably execute him and Josiah for treason.

Emergency klaxon sounded suddenly and unlike a proximity alert, the electronic whine that jarred him out of his thoughts was not a gentle reminder but a screaming alert. The space around the ship rumbled slightly and the external lights around the  _Rogue_  suddenly dimmed as a great shape appeared directly above it. Buck saw the shadow that engulfed the ship and knew immediately what it was without having to look at the computer readout or take a better view through the cockpit window.

The Star Destroyer appeared out of hyperspace in less than a split second, no doubt waiting for their arrival all along. As Buck forced his ship into evasive maneuvers, he noted the hangar doors of the large destroyer slide open and a dozen TIE fighters made their emergence. He dipped the  _Rogue_  into what was almost a180-degree angle and tried to move his ship from under the behemoth as the smaller ships headed directly towards him. Behind the  _Rogue_ , the shuttle had come predictably to live and was converging upon them.

"Oh wow." JD exclaimed as he saw the ships coming towards them and the large destroyer waiting above them. He had never seen one in his life and considering what it meant to his future existence, savagely curtailed by his choices of late, he could not get his eyes of the massive leviathan in space. The Star Destroyers were created not only as the ultimate symbol of Imperial power but as the terrible arm of its war machine. Staring at them now in wide eyed fear, there was good reason for that awesome reputation.

"I'm sorry," Josiah whispered as he realised how cleverly he had been duped. He did not doubt his contact believed the information he had been passing and in realistic terms was probably dead now, since the Empire kept close scrutiny on whomever it chose to leak information through. "I got you all into this."

"It's not your fault Josiah," Buck responded automatically. "It was a trap."

"A trap?" JD stammered, becoming afraid of what would happen once they were in Imperial custody. He had no idea how the Empire treated members of the Rebel Alliance and their co-conspirators but he assumed it was with extreme prejudice.

"Yes," Josiah nodded grimly, deducing how this thing had happened to them now the net had dropped. Strange how things became clear when events no longer had any chance of being altered. It angered him to be the lure that brought his companions to disaster and how foolish he was to believe the information coming to him so fortuitously did not stink of a trap. "They leaked the information knowing we would jump at the chance of rescuing Nathan because he was so important to the Alliance. They fed it to me and I bought it, hook line and sinker."

Buck did not respond. He was too busy trying to escape the Star Destroyer that had predictably fallen into pursuit. The fighters had spread out around the  _Rogue_ , ensuring she did not make an attempt to run for the asteroid field. In retrospect, Buck cursed his own foolishness. Anyone expecting the shuttle to be attacked would have guessed the asteroid was the only place to launch such an action. He would not be surprised if there was not another ship similarly hidden as they were, watching and waiting for their arrival and alerting the Star Destroyer as soon as they made their emergence from their hiding place.

The TIE fighters, at least a dozen of them were already blocking the path to the approaching asteroid field, anticipating the Rogue would try to hide there. They came at the freighter at full speed, firing all guns as they did so. The blasts impacted against the deflector shield and caused the  _Rogue_  to shudder dangerously as it was absorbed by the protective field around the ship. However, its occupants nonetheless felt the brunt of those assaults, as the Rogue heaved in protest against the bombardment. The freighter attempted to veer around to escape the bursts of energy only to be confronted with the Star Destroyer bearing down on them.

Buck refused to give up, thinking fast and furiously, he forced the  _Rogue_  through the narrow gap of space between the Destroyer and the TIEs, his ship skimming along the surface of the larger vessel as it did so. One could not appreciate the vastness of the ship until one was flying up close to it. The Star Destroyers were almost the size of a small city and as the  _Rogue_  flew along its hull, he knew if should he collide with the armored behemoth, his small ship would not survive the impact. The Destroyer would suffer its wounds no doubt but there would be nothing left of the Rogue.

"Hang on!" He shouted as the  _Rogue_  glided over the surface of the Destroyer and quickly found itself running out of cover. While he remained close to the vessel, he could be ensured of a slight delay from the TIE fighters as they decided what to do. They would be reluctant to fire upon their own ship and that brief delay was a few more seconds they were not being captured.

Josiah and JD hung onto the seats, aware that the only reason they were not tumbling around the cockpit was due to the fact that they were strapped into their chairs. Despite Buck's efforts to keep the TIE fighters from firing, they were still being hit and each blast rocked the ship and made it harder and harder for them to remain calm. An outburst would only distract their pilot and he had enough trouble on his hands.

"I can't shake them!" Buck swore angrily as he found himself in open space again as the Star Destroyer maneuvered away from the  _Rogue_  giving its TIE fighters a clear shot at the escaping vessel. The effect of that freedom was pointedly clear as the ship began to shake and shudder dangerously from the unleashed bombardment of energy being hurled at it. Everything not bolted down was flying about in all directions. Buck's hands were moving at lightning speed but he could not get away from the barrage and he needed some distance if he was to make the jump to light speed. Unfortunately, the commander of the Star Destroyer was also aware of this and had given orders to his pilot to prevent him from doing just that.

"Can't we jump to hyperspace?" JD asked, his voice full of fear.

"I'm sorry kid," Buck apologized for more than just being unable to make the jump. "They've got us penned in. They're not letting us get enough speed or distance to make the jump."

As he made that statement, two TIE fighters came at the  _Rogue_  head on. The forward guns kicked into action, firing a few shots of its own in retaliation but it required someone at the gunnery port and Buck swore once again for not getting himself a co-pilot. The TIE fighters shrugged off the blasts and then returned fire. They detonated against the forward hull of the  _Rogue_  and the ship's internal lights flickered for a second before returning.

"Damn." Buck swore.

"What is it?" JD responded, almost afraid to ask.

Buck did not answer, to busy forcing the  _Rogue_  through the two ships and vaporized one as he broke through their line. The sky illuminated briefly as the TIE fighter disintegrated into nothingness. However its destruction only brought more frenzied firing from the others and the  _Rogue_  was jolted violently from side to side as the blasts seemed more potent somehow.

"Our deflector shield power is down." Josiah answered as he studied the readings on the console while Buck struggled to keep them alive. "Any more direct hits and they're going to break us apart."

"They're already doing that!" Buck swore angrily, knowing just how much punishment his ship could take and realizing with a sinking feeling the point was fast approaching when he would have to give serious thought to how far they were going to go with this fight and how his passengers would fare. Thinking deeply, he spoke suddenly. "Alright you two," he looked over his shoulder briefly. "I've got escape pods. I want you two to get in them right now."

"No!" JD exclaimed. "We're not going to run and leave you!"

"Its pointless any way Buck," Josiah quickly added his support to JD's words. "Even if we do get out on the life pods, we're too far away to make it back to Cordoba or get past that Destroyer."

Buck never had the chance to respond because once again, that shadow fell over his ship and he knew that the Destroyer had caught up to them again. He could see the outline of the vessel moving over the  _Rogue_  and see the TIE fighters through every corner of the cockpit. The bombardment stopped abruptly because the Rogue suddenly stopped moving. The ship began to shudder rhythmically and the jolts rattled them inside the cockpit. The engines began to groan and more klaxons began screaming again.

"What's happening?" JD shouted through all this commotion.

Buck and Josiah exchanged heavy glances before the former Senator answered since Buck was too busy dealing with this latest threat. "Tractor beam. They've got us."

JD slumped into his chair and looked at Buck, hoping the star pilot had something to add that might give them some hope the situation was not as futile as it appeared. However, in the cockpit window, the evidence of the tractor beam was clear. The  _Rogue_  was being slowly pulled towards the enormous ship and the TIEs had stopped firing.

"I have to shut the engines down." Buck said softly. "We're not going anywhere and if we keep fighting the beam, the engines are going to superheat and burn out."

"Thank the Force Mary isn't with us." Josiah found himself saying, comforted by that fact only.

"You think this whole thing was to get her?" Buck asked as he began shutting down all systems on his ship. He did not relish what was going to happen to them but he was not going to look death in the face and beg for his life. He knew the risks perfectly well when he agreed to embark on this mission and if there were any regrets, it was that JD was sharing the dying with him.

"I can't imagine anything else." Josiah replied grimly. "Buck we need to get some kind of story straight. I'd like not to implicate JD if I can. They'll never let you and I go but there is a chance for JD."

"You don't have to do that...." JD spoke up. He was not willing to die but he was not willing to let someone else lie to protect him either.

"JD," Buck spoke up. "We have to do this. You don't know what the Empire is like. You've never seen them at their worst. We have. If we can save you, we will. I'm just asking you to play along with us if we can get you out of this."

JD nodded in compliance but he did not like it. The cockpit felt silent as the trio eased back into their seats and watched the Star Destroyer above swallow them whole.


	7. The Jedi

She woke up in a cold sweat knowing instantly something was wrong.

At first, she had no idea what it was that brought such ill feeling when she slept, only knowing it had crept into the sheets with her and wrapped its cold tendrils about her slumbering psyche. Mary felt the disorientation leave her while she panted hard, trying to catch her breath, wondering why it felt as if she had run a mile. Sweat glistened off her limbs and her blue eyes searched wildly through the room she had been occupying for the night, trying to ferret out what exactly her mind had found so disconcerting, even in sleep. Then it hit her with the force of a charging rancor.

_hey had not come back yet._

She jumped out of her bed, her silk nightdress clinging to her skin. It was one of the luxuries she allowed herself as a woman even though most people naturally assumed for one as military minded as she, she was beyond the lure of all things feminine. How much of a woman Mary was would surprise them if they knew but she kept such secrets to herself and allowed those around her to see the persona they needed to believe in no matter what.

With her hair flowing behind her in a long wave of white gold, Mary stepped out of the bedroom offered to her by Inez, the owner of this establishment and the person whom Buck Wilmington assured her, he could trust above all else while she was on Cordoba. As she walked down the hall, she heard the drunken mutterings of the other resident in the tavern and supposed he was in quite a stupor for though he was loud enough to hear, his words were slurred with incoherence. Mary walked to the room at the end of the hall, feeling the warm air assault her as she moved through the darkened passage. Growing up on Alderaan, she was accustomed to cool breezes and temperate climates when planet bound, not this dry desert heat that seem to scrape against her lungs each time she took a breath.

She only had to knock once or twice before she heard the muffled sounds of footsteps approaching from the other side. The speed of which her knock was answered told Mary, Inez who occupied the room, was not much in the mood for sleep either. She wondered if Inez was similarly worried about the friends who had yet to return. The Four Corners Tavern was the quiet centre of Alliance activity in Cordoba. Here, its members were provided with shelter, intelligence and any other use the Alliance could think of. Its hostess, Inez was an Alliance collaborator who risked unspeakable harm should the Empire ever know of her complicity.

When the door swung open and Mary saw the redness in the woman's eyes, she knew immediately Inez had not slept a wink and was just as concerned at the lack of appearance by Buck and the others.

"Is there something wrong?" She asked softly, trying not to appear foolishly emotional, Mary guessed.

"You know as well as I do something is wrong." Mary replied gently, not wishing Inez to feel as if she were the only one worrying. "They're not back yet."

Inez raised her eyes and seemed to let out a sigh of concern. "They should have been back hours ago." The tavern owner responded, her voice a soft hush. Stepping back, she opened the door wider and offered Mary entry. Mary did not refuse and slipped quietly into the room.

The room that Inez Recillos called home was much larger than the one Mary occupied during her stay here. Judging by the layout, Mary suspected these had been two rooms and Inez had removed the wall to give herself more space. The room which had been a suite, kept the bedroom furniture within it but the other was occupied by a divan, some chairs, various pieces of antique furniture, including a rather impressive writing desk that Mary was certain origninated from Coruscant.

"I've been waiting up and monitoring all docking reports available on the Info-Net." Inez explained as she returned to the table before the divan and wing chair that held a hot pot of cider. "There's no sign of the  _Rogue_."

Mary glanced at the chronometer and noted the time. They were seriously overdue, too much to assume the mission went according to plan. Josiah knew how dangerous it was for her to remain on Cordoba. If he had not returned yet then it was most likely that he could not. "They should have been back by now or at least confirmed they had Nathan. If they had done neither, then it was most likely that they've been captured."

"I see." Inez swallowed thickly, trying to come to grips with that outcome even though the possibility had been with her all through the night. "Then they are lost?"

Mary took a deep breath and hated how it felt thinking that the Empire had won yet again. Two important members of the Alliance were now in their hands and worse yet, Buck and JD who held no importance as far as information was concerned, would most likely be killed outright. It left a sour taste in her mouth and she despised it, despised sacrificing yet another life just as her husband had to be sacrificed for the greater good. "No," she said firmly, unaware of from what reservoir this determination not to yield was coming from. "I'm not going to let them die."

"What do you mean?" Inez asked fearfully, thinking that perhaps Mary was intending on doing something foolish. Inez was just as aware of Mary's role in the Alliance and as much as she ached for those lost tonight, she would not sit by and allow Mary to put her life before the cause they were fighting for.

"I'm sick of letting people die." Mary retorted. "We have to get them back. Somehow, we must rescue them. I need to contact the Alliance, have them send some people over here and we'll think this out." She sat down heavily at the dining table. Inez did not follow her immediately choosing to retrieve another cup from a nearby cupboard first.

When Inez returned to join Mary at the table, she poured the rebel leader a cup of warm cider. Mary thanked her politely before noting that it appeared as if Inez was trying to tell her something important.

"What is it?" Mary asked.

"There may be someone here who could help you get the others back." Inez suggested although her tone seemed reluctant.

"Who?" Mary's eyes widened in hope. At this point, she was just desperate enough to accept any suggestion, no matter how outlandish it might be.

"When you were first brought into the tavern, remember Buck's friend?" 

Mary recalled the dark figure sitting in the corner of the booth who seemed surly and uninterested in their business. Even though Buck assured her he could be trusted, Mary did wonder who or what he was. Of course, the plan to rescue Nathan had superseded such thoughts, now that Inez had brought it up again, her curiosity was piqued. "I remember him." She nodded. "His name was Chris... something?"

"Chris Larabee." Inez answered with even more hesitation wondering if she was not making a terrible mistake. "I think he could be of use to you in rescuing the others."

"Why?" Mary asked suspiciously, observing the reluctance in Inez's manner to suggest this man could help. She was aware that he was the other occupant of the tavern and remembered his drunken stupor when she had first awoken. "Why could he be of more help to us than a member of the Rebel Alliance?"

"Because," Inez volunteered slowly, hoping Chris would understand the reasons for her betrayal. "He used to be a Jedi Knight."

Mary blinked. "That...that drunk was a Jedi Knight?" She exclaimed astonished.

"Yes," Inez nodded sombrely, not blaming her for her disbelief. "He was one of the strongest Jedi there was. He was going to be elevated to master when Palpatine began slaughtering all the Jedi with his servant Darth Vader."

Mary felt a cold shudder thinking about Vader. She had seen him once, a monstrosity kept alive by machinery and evil. His soul, she was certain was not unlike the black armour in which he encased his body as he did the Emperor's bidding. "I remember." Mary nodded slowly. "It was just before Palpatine declared himself Emperor. The Jedi purges were the beginning of all this."

"Chris lost his wife and son. Palpatine was not satisfied with just killing the Jedi, the entire race had to be wiped out as far as he was concerned. Even the children of Jedi were killed. He heard about the purges and rushed home but they were already dead, they were burned alive in their house."

"By the Force," Mary gasped softly, more emotion in her soul emerging than she would have liked for those needless deaths. It was not that she was unsympathetic to such news but stories like this were so many now that their power to move her was slight and yet something inside her felt a deep sense of empathy for the man. "And he's been this way ever since?" She asked, referring to the drinking without having to use the word.

"He lost his faith." Inez answered, sharing the same sorrow for Chris. "It was bad enough his entire way of life was being destroyed but the loss of his family. It destroyed him."

"How old was his son?" Mary asked softly for no particular reason.

"He was five I think."

"Five." The number escaped Mary as a gasp. She thought of her own son, hidden away with what family remained after Palpatine's purges and wondered how she would go on if she were to learn he too was gone, murdered like Chris Larabee's son.

"Nothing has reached him Mary," Inez explained. "Buck is his oldest friend and nothing Buck has said has made any difference."

"You expect me to try?" Mary looked at her astonished. "If his best friend can't talk to him, what good will I do? He doesn't even know me."

She was right but Inez was also out of options and she was desperate to try anything, even something as unlikely as convincing Chris Larabee it was time to help his friend or he'd lose another person in his life.

"Mary," Inez gathered up the words from inside of her and hope they would be enough to convince the rebel leader to try. "I saw you talk to a boy today about freedom and justice. I saw you reach him Mary, even though he never had a reason in his life to question any of his  beliefs. All he had was your words telling him how good it was in the days of the Republic and you made him care enough to risk everything when he had no reason to. You did that Mary, you made him feel something inside that no one else could. After you spoke to him, he was ready to go off with Buck even though he knew he could die. You have the power to make freedom felt Mary, just by speaking of it. We know you believe and so we believe too."

Mary buried her face in her hands unable to deny anything Inez had said.  It did not make her proud to recall it was her words that made JD Dunne go with Buck Wilmington. Still, if she wanted to save that boy's life then she was going to have to believe Inez's word she was capable of reaching the Jedi.

"Alright," Mary let out a held breath, unaware she had been holding it until she conceded to Inez's plea. "I will talk to him but you make a very big pot of cider and if he kills me, I'm considering this entirely your fault."

* * *

 

Someone was pounding at his door.

The noise exploded into Chris Larabee's ears with such intensity that it had the effect of physical pain. The former Jedi groaned out loud and uttered some vulgar obscenity at whomever was making that din, to go away. The action resulted in a slight pause before the noise resumed and for the first time in too long, Chris felt the need to grab his lightsabre just so that he could put an end to the ruckus permanently. He considered ignoring it and thought perhaps he could place himself in a Jedi meditative state where such annoyances would disappear.

Of course, one could  _not_  reach a meditative state when one was suffering the worse hangover in creation.

Burrowing under his pillows did nothing to drive away that incessant noise, not even when he chose to further verbalize his displeasure. In truth, he was uncertain if the words had come out in any coherent order. Finally, the only thing Chris could do to make it stop was to push himself off the bed and face the intruder who better have a damned good reason for intruding on his perfectly good hangover.

"What is it?" He demanded as he pulled open the door, unconcerned that he was clad in nothing but his pants.

"Really Mr Larabee," Mary Travis declared as she brushed past him, bringing with her the alien scent of hot cider into a room where the smell of alcohol had seeped into the paint. "I thought Jedis were supposed to be erudite and in possession of inner calm. Please get dressed, I don't wish to conduct our business while you're half-naked."

Chris stood there stupefied for a second as his hung-over mind attempted to process what had just happened, when the lovely blond strode into the room, still wearing her nightgown.

"Excuse me?" He blinked and stuttered. "Business?"

"Yes," she responded as she set down the cup of hot cider on a nearby table. "We have business to conduct and I would prefer to speak to you while you're somewhat sober."

Chris recovered a little but only enough to be even more annoyed by her intrusion. His state of mind was such at this moment, he was relatively unconcerned by the fact she was the woman who made his heart skip a beat some hours earlier. All he cared about right now was her invasion of his privacy and he had no intention of tolerating it, no matter how beautiful or silky her skin might appear against the sheer satin elegance of her night gown...

 _Where did that come from?_  He asked himself as the thought streaked across his mind. 

"We don't have any business to conduct lady," he retorted, his voice a hoarse whisper from too much drink and lack of sleep.

"Yes, we do I'm afraid," Mary steeled herself for a frosty reception and remembered Inez's words. "Buck Wilmington has been captured by the Empire. Unless we rescue him, they'll execute him for high treason."

Chris swore inwardly. Damn that stupid flyboy! Why did he go and get involved in that mess? "He knew what he was getting into." Chris turned back towards his bed.

"That's all you have to say?" Mary declared, not about to let him slink back into the covers so easily. She suddenly felt the strange need to salvage this wreck of a man. For what purpose, she had no idea. Yet something about seeing this Jedi who wore the face of a god (a somewhat hung over one at the moment) give up on himself did not sit well wit her. "I was under the impression he was your best friend."

"Get out." Chris retorted sharply. "If he's in the hands of the Empire, it’s over. He's as good as dead."

"It's not over." She said fiercely. "Not while there's a chance to save him. Now I know where he is and with your help we could get him out but  _only_  with your help."

"Where is he?" Chris asked as he dropped onto his bed and stared at her with indifference.

"To the Imperial installation on Doldur. Once there, they'll discover he's just a courier and they'll execute him and the boy." Mary explained holding out the cup of cider towards him.

"Doldur." Chris nodded, knowing the place well. The Doldur star system, rich in a multitude of ore deposits were well guarded by a fully manned and armoured station on one of the small moons of its planets. The arsenal there was formidable, just as formidable as the surface troops. "Let it go." He said coldly. "They're dead. You'll never get to them."

Mary braced herself and suppress the well of anger emerging inside of her as he casually dismissed the life of his friend and those with him. "I'll never get to them but I believe a Jedi might fare better."

Chris ignored the cider she was obviously offering him. "A Jedi would, if there were one available but as you can see, no one like that happens to be in this room so I say you got a bit of a problem."

"You're pathetic." She whispered, her disgust clearly showing.

"Get out." Chris stood up and closed in on her. 

"Or what?" She challenged him, her blue-grey eyes blazing. "You'll throw me out?"

"I might." He said finding her words and manner annoying enough to consider it.

"That would require the existence of a man and from where I'm sitting, you're barely that." Mary declared, her temper getting the better of her.

"That's it," Chris took a step closer to her "You get out or I'll throw you out."

"Do it!" She swore. "I should not have expected anything more. I wouldn't even have wasted my time with a drunk like you if it wasn't for some strange notion Inez had you might still be useful underneath all that liquor!"

"You don't know anything about me!" He shouted, striking the cup out of her hand. The cup and its contents went flying, spilling across the floor and shattering into large fragments when it landed. She jumped at the sound it made when it shattered but when it was all said and done, she turned on him with the same determination. This man was going to have to do better than this tantrum if he thought he was going to frighten her into retreat.

"I know you lost your wife and son." Mary stated and saw his eyes flare in fury at the mention of his family. 

"Don't you say anything about them!" Chris shouted and his hand was around her throat, slamming her against the wall as he held her in place by the neck.

"I don't have to!" She shouted back unafraid, not fighting him. "You think you're the only one in the galaxy who has lost everything? How can you be a Jedi Knight and be so arrogant as to believe that!"

" Shut up!" He hissed in warning and menace.

"No, I won't shut up!" Mary returned loudly. "Because I need you. I don't have any choice you've all I got. If this is what it takes to make you wake up to yourself then so be it! You think you are the only one who has a monopoly on pain? Life is pain! Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool! You think your hurt gives you the right to make a mockery of everything your wife and son died for? They died because of injustice and what do you do? Do you avenge them? Do you try to honour their memory by living? No, you pathetic bastard! You climbed into a bottle and let yourself rot!"

"SHUT UP!" He screamed and Mary found herself flying.

The power of his rage sent her in the air and she slammed hard into the opposite wall. Mary uttered a small cry of pain when her head connected with the stone tile.

When Chris saw her fall, something not unlike a bucket of ice cold water, shocked him to his senses. It washed all over him and swept away the rage and petulance with sober reality. He was trembling when he realised what he had done and there were no adequate words to describe the horror of his actions. He heard Inez's footsteps running up the corridor, sensing her fear and shock through the walls as she approached and realised she had been listening closely, trying not to interfere until she heard Mary being flung against the wall like a child's toy. Her fear forced him into movement and Chris hurried forward towards Mary, who was pushing herself onto her knees from her prone position.

"Hey." He dropped next to her when Inez reached the door. When the lady heard his voice, she seemed to pause, not wishing to intrude now he seemed calmer. 

Mary raised her eyes to him while still on her hands and knees, wiping the smear of blood running across her face. A slight bruise formed under her cheek where she hit the wall and when Chris saw her in that state, he closed his eyes. For the first time in too long, he felt an emotion coursing through him that was neither grief nor sorrow. It was shame. He extended his hand towards her and half expected her to reject it. Instead, she ran her fingers through her hair, brushing those golden strands, some stained with blood, from her face before covering his palm with her hand.

"Are you feeling better?" She asked, her voice perfectly calm with no trace of the venom that provoked his shameful behaviour.

"Not much," Chris answered and paused a moment as he composed his next words. "Are you always this pushy?"

She sat upright on the floor and met his gaze. "When I need to get things done."

Chris nodded slowly before addressing her again. "I've been away for a long time. I don't know whether I can be of any use to you."

"I don't know whether you can either," she said bluntly, watching the man and seeing the sadness in his eyes. They mirrored her own and despite his assault of her, she found she could not be angry because she understood his sorrow and that empathy allowed forgiveness to come easily. "But I don't have a choice. I'm done allowing people to die."

Chris could understand that and in truth, he did not like it either. The people in his life were fast dwindling into the mists, there was no need to hurry their departure along. Buck was there through the worst of his grief when Sarah and Adam's death was still a raw wound. Buck made sure he continued living even though in those first few days he would have happily died with them. He had spent the last year trying to make it happen but tonight, he understood how ashamed Sarah would be if she had seen how he had treated Mary. He should have been honouring his family by living, not hiding here like some coward. It was shameful.

"What do you need me to do?"

"I have something of a plan but I need you to carry it out. I won't lie to you, it's risky but a Jedi Knight is the only person I know who can make it past those Imperial defences."

"Jedi or not," Chris stared at her. "I think you're over estimating my abilities."

"I don't think so," she shook her head. "When you're mad, you're pretty dangerous."

"Anger is not the path I can take." Chris declared. "It leads to easily to the dark side."

"Really?" Her lips started to curl into a smile. "That's sound like a Jedi talking. Are you telling me there's one in the room after all?" Her eyes sparkled with challenge when she asked the question. 

Chris reached for the bruise on her face and caressed the tender flesh. She was surprised by his touch and for the first time, the confident mask of self-assurance wavered and Chris saw something of the woman, not the soldier.

"Maybe just one." He admitteed, feeling a slight tug in his heart before withdrawing his hand.  

"You'll need help." 

"Yes, I will," Chris nodded in agreement and knew just the person who could provide it.


	8. Suicide Run

He should have left by now.

If he could not bring himself to claim Chris Larabee's bounty then he ought to start giving serious thought about disappearing. He did not doubt the Imperial agents who had given him this assignment would make good on their threat. Vin Tanner sat in the bar at the spaceport, imbibing in one two many drinks because he had no idea what to do. For a man who had prided himself in always having a plan, this state of affairs was wholly unacceptable. The flux of uncertainty left his thoughts disjointed and confused even though the contributing factor had to do with the truth he had recently learned about himself.

He had spent time following his meeting with Chris Larabee trying to decide what to do and finding no answer throughout his ruminations. Vin had buried himself in his sleeping quarters on board the _Tracker_ with a good bottle of  Gungan whiskey and permitted himself to get blind stinking drunk in the hopes the intoxication would help him reach some type of epiphany. It did not and when the bottle was empty, Vin could only force himself out of his ship and into the bar where JD Dunne and Buck Wilmington had made their first meeting. It was the small hours of dawn and the bar that apparently did not close, had similar number of customers. A few barflies remained at the counter while some sat around tables, muttering with slurred speech to one another while drinking in the atmosphere of hopelessness that seemed to emerge after a party had ended.

Vin paid no attention to the other patrons, drinking steadily in order to make this feeling inside him go away. After his mother died, Vin had become accustomed to being alone. Oh, there were people around him as a child but they were all prisoners in the same cage and though they ensured he was nourished and protected to serve his place as one of them, they did not really consider him as such. In truth, neither did he. Even when he befriended the nomadic Sand People who roamed the deserts of Tatooine; he was taught their secrets but still regarded as different. Vin's adult life saw him embark on a similar pattern of isolation, only this time it was of his own making.

He had never realised how much he wanted to belong, not until he met Chris Larabee who told him things about himself he had never imagined could be true. His instincts were his ally. He relied upon them and assumed other people were similarly gifted but never chose to trust it as completely as he did. He saw things in his head he had always considered to be flashes of insight or intuition, the way an enemy was going to turn or what path a bounty might have taken in order to elude him. Vin did know one thing which disturbed him greatly and which he revealed to no one; once he got the scent of the prey, not even space or time could make him lose it. Vin was considered the best because he was relentless in his pursuit even if the trail was cold like the dead ashes of a fire. Somehow he had always brought in his quarry.

Now he knew it was not because he was attuned to his instincts. It was nothing like that at all. He was and had always been a part of something greater than he knew. He knew the religion surrounding the Force, the energy field generated by all living creatures, interconnecting them in some way and fostering cosmic harmony if only those same beings could see past their differences. The Jedi Knights and Masters were the priesthood of this religion and until he stood face to face with Chris, never imagined the Force could burn so strongly in him.

But it was the Force.

No matter how much he hated to admit it, he could not deny that fact. Chris Larabee had opened up a door inside his mind and suddenly, Vin knew with utter certainty what he should have been. He should have been a Jedi. Of course that could never happen now. Due to events beyond his control, the Emperor and Lord Vader were systematically exterminating the entire order down to the genetic level. Vin sat at the bar lamenting the fact that he finally found his place in the galaxy only to discover that it no longer existed.

"It doesn't help you know." A voice said next to him.

Vin almost jumped out of his seat. Normally he could sense when someone was approaching him even though they might have stepped into a crowded room and had not even started walking towards him. He glanced sideways and saw Chris Larabee standing before him. The Jedi was dressed in his dark robes, sheathed in black and imposing as ever. Those who saw the Jedi, felt the presence of him and seemed to shrink further into the background as if sensing the danger even if they could not understand why.

Vin looked back at his glass and downed its contents in one gulp. "It helps me."

"I thought it helped me too," Chris sat down next to the younger man. "All it did was made me disappear altogether."

"That's what I'm aiming for." Vin remarked and ordered another.

Chris sat down on the stool next to him. In truth, the Jedi did not know why he was here. Perhaps it was because he felt a sense of kinship with Vin Tanner despite the fact the man had been sent here to hunt him down. Chris could sense Vin felt lost and adrift at the realization he was Force adept. He could not blame the bounty hunter of course. Most Jedi had years to accustom themselves to being what they were, not to mention the training and apprenticeship that went into preparation before actually being Jedi. Vin had been dropped into this cold and Chris could hardly expect his reaction to be any different than what it was.

"I need your help." Chris said finally, deciding there would be no easy way to ask this and it was pointless trying to bandy about words so the point could be arrived at smoothly. There was no way to do this except with sincerity and while his instincts were not as sharp as they should be considering that his senses had been dulled the past year with drink, the Force gave him reason to hope nonetheless.

Vin turned to him slowly with astonishment. "You want my help?" The bounty hunter regarded him with incredulity. "The man sent to deliver you to the Empire?"

"Yes," Chris nodded; meeting those cobalt colored eyes directly. "I need you to help me rescue some friends of mine at an Imperial installation."

Vin's jaw almost dropped open from disbelief but somehow he managed to keep himself from doing that and resorted instead to uttering a short burst of laughter. "Either you're insane or I'm a hell of a lot drunker than what I think I am." The bounty hunter retorted as he picked up the fresh glass of liquor placed in front of him.

"You're all I've got." Chris said without hesitation. "I need someone I can trust."

"And you picked me?" Vin balked, still unable to believe that of all the people the Jedi could have come to for this, he had chosen Vin Tanner, the very person who only hours ago threatened to deliver his head to the Emperor. The logic of it was too much for Vin to wrap his mind around.

"I picked you." Chris nodded.

"Why?" Vin demanded. "What makes you think that I won't turn you over to the Empire?"

Chris let a smile cross his lips, indicating he knew something Vin did not. "Because I know you won't. You've searched all your life to belong somewhere, to not feel so outcast. I chose you because the Jedi are fast becoming extinct. Soon there will be only a handful of us, if there aren't already. This is your only chance to ever know what you could have been, to know from what tradition you come from. I did not know your father but I suspect he might have been one of us. Do you have any memory of him?"

"No." Vin shook his head; unable to meet Chris's eyes when he answered. "I never knew him. I barely remember my mother as it is."

"I need your help Vin," Chris reiterated, aware he had no reason to trust this bounty hunter however, every fiber of his being and every thing that made him Jedi told Chris that he could. Vin Tanner was looking for something and although Chris was uncertain what game fate was playing with both of them, he sensed he was  _that_  something Vin had been searching all his life. "I can't do this alone."

Vin stared into the bottom of his glass and wondered if he was going insane. He wondered because he was  _actually_  considering going with this crazy Jedi on a suicidal mission and there was no mistaking it, it  _was_  suicidal, to rescue his friends. However, what did he have to lose? He was not going to bring Chris Larabee in; he had decided that much prior to the man's arrival at the bar. The Empire was most likely going to put a price on his head so his chances of coming near a civilized star system for a while would be negligible. If he was going to be a marked man, wasn't it better for him to choose the manner in which he became one?

"I must be insane." Vin mused as he swirled the contents of his glass and decided he had done enough drinking. If he was going to die on some foolish quest, he might as well do it sober. "I must be absolutely insane."

"The insane go to the after life absolved." 

"Don't start that cryptic Jedi stuff with me." Vin grumbled  as he started to stand up. "I'm way confused as it is."

Chris could only smile as he lifted himself from his stool. "I know the feeling."

 

* * *

After copious amounts of hot cider and more self-debate as to how he had gone from respected bounty hunter to possible rebel collaborator in a matter of hours, Vin Tanner accompanied Chris Larabee back to the Four Corners Tavern. A part of him still did not know why he was willing to risk everything on such a foolish venture but the bounty hunter could not deny there was something inordinately pleasing about having someone willing to trust him on faith alone. There was also something else that Vin did not want to admit because he was too jaded and felt sentimentally foolish about feeling and it was the fact that not only did he have this secret yearning to belong; but he also wished to belong to something worth fighting for. An Empire willing to condemn him for not carrying out their desires was not worth his loyalty and since they would turn him into a fugitive for his disobedience anyway, Vin felt it might as well be for something worthwhile.

"Are you sure about this?" Mary asked eyeing Vin critically when Chris had presented him to the rebel leader. They were inside Inez's room above the Four Corners tavern, about to map out their plan for rescuing Nathan and the others.

"I'm sure." Chris replied, refusing to give her doubts any more attention then that. Chris trusted Vin Tanner. It had been a long time since he could be so certain about anyone but Chris had been that about Vin ever since they had met. Even when he was wallowing in his self pitying state. 

"Alright," Mary nodded and got down to the business at hand. "I've contacted the Alliance and it is confirmed. They have been taken to Doldur all of them. At this time, we know they're still alive. The Empire will want to conduct a proper interrogation to squeeze every iota of information about the Alliance that they can get."

"Doldur's maximum security." Vin remarked, knowing something about the installation they were meant to penetrate. "If we're talking about breaking in there, I can tell you now, it's impossible."

"There are problems," Chris said easily, seeming unconcerned. "But it's not impossible."

Mary suppressed a smile finding the Jedi very different from the drunken man whom she confronted some hours ago. There was something akin to peace about him and though she suspected his sorrow had not disappeared entirely, nor would his brooding manner, she was pleased he had pulled himself together enough to realise life did go on. "I'm afraid your friend is correct." Mary agreed with Vin's assessment of the situation. "The station is located on the small moon orbiting Doldur 3, a gas giant. Aside from the tremendous gravitational forces that have turned the moon into one large violent vortex of high winds, an energy shield protects the installation. No ship may pass through it without the shield being dropped from  _inside_  the complex."

"What if we landed a small ship right next to the field perimeter?" Chris asked after a moment's consideration. "These things are made to keep out larger objects like a fighter but a person could just walk through the shield."

"Still impossible," Vin added automatically. "That's why they have a tight monitoring system throughout the entire area. We so much as breathe next to that thing and there'll be enough alarms screaming to wake the dead."

"We cannot disable the sensors." Mary mused starting to think away out of their present solution. "Neither can we avoid them. Perhaps what we need to do is make them less important." She blinked suddenly and sat up. 

Chris could feel the inspiration coming from her and could not deny it was infectious indeed when she felt this way. Despite himself, he could not help admiring her as she continued to speak, unaware of his observation. She was the strongest spirited woman he had ever met and yet he suspected at the core of her was someone soft and very unlike the military persona she wore around herself like a shield. He just wished she did not look so sad.

"You have an idea?" Vin asked, seeing the same spark in Mary's eyes as Chris did, even though the bounty hunter felt none of the affection the Jedi did towards the lovely blond woman who seemed clearly to be in charge of things.

"What you need gentlemen," Mary eased back into her seat and remarked thoughtfully. "Is a distraction."

"There is no distraction big enough to make them ignore a perimeter alert." Vin pointed out. He was well aware of the efficiency of Imperial security, especially around their military bases.

"How about a rebel attack from space?" Mary asked with a hint of a smile.

"You’ll never get past their deflector shield." Chris pointed out.

"No," she agreed. "But the capture of two important Alliance members is reason enough for us to try in their opinion. It has just enough desperation about it to be real."

It was a good gamble but still a risky one. Chris could feel her own reservations, none of which translated on her face because a good commander never showed weakness to the enemy or to those under their command. "You know that you won’t be able to do them any damage.". 

"Yes I do," Mary nodded, having thought it through before she even suggested it to them. "However, the purpose here is not to engage or destroy the enemy, mainly keep their attention away from the two of you while you penetrate the perimeter. Perimeter sensors have a tendency to trip when the deflector shield is under bombardment. Once activated, the sensors will transmit an alert for approximately three minutes, you have that long to get through the shield and get out of range. Any longer than that and the alarm will repeat itself, at which point the Imperials will know that it is not a glitch but a genuine breach in security."

"Understood." Chris nodded, absorbing all that information.

"Once we get in there, how do we find these friends of yours? I know they will be in a cell block but do we have any idea about the layout of the place?" Vin asked no one in particular.

Chris could tell that the bounty hunter was still dubious about their chances of success since his scepticism reflected in his speech. However, Chris was not offended or perturbed by Vin’s behaviour mostly because he knew the man was set in his mind to follow Chris whatever his reservations might be. Vin had reached a crossroads in his life and was understandably somewhat resentful of the path he was forced to take. Still Chris did not doubt him or believe that Vin would go back on his word to help him in this mission. For a bounty hunter, Vin Tanner had a strange sense of honour and his word was not given lightly nor broken for the sake of convenience.

"He has a point." Chris pointed out. "I can have someone take us there but it will complicate things."

"Agreed," Mary nodded, trying to think a way out of this particular problem. "I suppose the only thing you can do is plug into a computer terminal and produce a layout of the installation."

"It will have to do," Chris sighed wishing there was an alternative but then this entire rescue effort was never meant to be easy. "Let’s hope your distraction is enough to keep them busy while we go roaming about the place."

"Unfortunately, we have little else choice in the matter but to do exactly that," Mary sighed wishing she could be of more assistance to them considering the nature of what they were attempting to do. "In the meantime, I’ll contact our field agents and see if we have anyone placed in that facility that might be in a position to help you when you arrive at the Doldur installation."

"A prayer would be more helpful than field agents." Vin muttered under his breath. It was hard to get encouraged by a plan that hinged on so many probabilities and all of which had a thousand to one chance of failing at every turn.

As much as Chris might hate to admit it, he had a feeling  Vin was probably right.

* * *

"So this is what the Alliance sent to rescue Captain Jackson?" Colonel Nabb circled his prisoners like a carrion hawk about to pick at a particularly tasty morsel from a dead carcass.

Ezra Standish found himself leaning with his back to the wall, feeling the need to put some distance between himself and his superior officer as the man began assessing the prisoners taken into custody hours ago. The collection was hardly impressive and it added to the Colonel’s venom Mary Travis was not in their number. The rebels had wisely kept her from embarking on this rescue mission and though they had taken the bait, it was no victory for the Empire either.  

In truth, Ezra wondered how Nabb thought things could go any other way. Commander Mary Travis was no fool and she certainly was aware of the risks should the Empire capture her. Not only would her life be forfeit but the wealth of information she could provide regarding the Rebel Alliance meant risking her on such a mission was completely unacceptable. If the tables were turned, Ezra knew no Imperial officer would compromise the Empire by taking such foolish risks. 

The trio being interrogated had yet to speak but it wouldn't take long before they were forced to. The failure to lure Mary Travis here ensure there would be no further attempts to retrieve her but to salvage the situation, Nabb needed something valuable from the prisoners before him. Nathan, no doubt much to provide them,  as well as the captain of the captured ship and the older man who was obviously a rebel. Only tripling who should have been in school or anywhere else except the unfortunate place he was at now, was the odd man out.  

Ezra wished he was back at  Coruscant instead of languishing here on Doldur. When Nabb discovered his relationship to Nathan, he transferred Ezra here in the hopes of using him against the rebel Captain. As it was, Nabb took delight in watching Ezra's discomfort as the Colonel openly discussed the benefits of putting his oldest friend under torture. Ezra was convinced Nabb wanted to see him react and it didn't take a genius to discern why. It would be coup enough to secure the secrets of the Rebel Alliance but to finish off that splendid achievement by uncovering another traitor in their midst would mean promotions and all sorts of accolades. Too much for an ambitious Colonel lusting after a governorship or better, to resist.  

"Look," the one named Buck Wilmington spoke up. "The boy is just a passenger. He didn’t know anything about what we were intending to do." 

 _Big mistake_ , Ezra thought silently.  

Nabb immediately focussed on the youth, no more than eighteen Ezra estimated. The Colonel’s eyes narrowed and just as surely as he had broadcasted the thought, Ezra knew exactly what the man was about to do.  

"We’ll start the interrogation with this one." Nabb paused in front of the young man and declared with an almost triumphant smile.

The young man’s eyes widened in fear and the reaction Nabb wanted from his older companions came easily after that. Ezra swore inwardly because it was obvious the boy knew nothing about the Rebellion. Ezra could read people better than anyone alive; save a Jedi and he knew unless the Rebellion was recruiting straight off the farm, he doubted this boy was a member. The torture he would suffer at the hands of Nabb’s interrogation would be pointless but then the purpose of the exercise was for the benefit of his older companions. 

"You bastard!" The pilot shouted with unbridled venom. "He doesn’t know anything!"  

"We’ll find that out soon enough." Nabb said icily and gestured the storm troopers forward. "Take him." 

"No!" The pilot started to rise out of his seat when guns raised hastily in his direction.

Ezra could not take much more of this and he was not about to let this child suffer for no reason. He may be an Imperial officer but the uniform had not burned away his conscience entirely.

"Calm yourself," Ezra ordered the Captain of the ship called the _Rogue_. "Your friend will be taken unless you cooperate." Ezra stared directly at the man and hoped he was right about how intuitive star pilots could be. "We want answers and if we cannot get any from you, we will get them from him. Our purpose here is not to brutalise but to acquire information,  _any_  information. Do you understand?"

Buck Wilmington stared at the Imperial captain’s eyes and calmed down long enough to consider the man’s words. There was something in the man's word that spoke a double meaning. Buck also knew,  unless he wanted to watch JD being dragged out of here to suffer Force only knew what, he better unravel the ma's intent. The only way to save JD was to provide the Empire with information, any information, he said. With a start, Buck realised what was being said to him and knew it wasn't much of a solution to their problem but would keep these Imperial bastards away from JD. 

"Okay." Buck acquiesced and sat down. "I’ll tell you whatever I know. Just don’t hurt him." 

"Buck!" JD exclaimed in protest. "I can handle it! You can’t talk!"  

"Sit down!" Nabb shoved him back into his seat and then turned to Buck. "You are prepared to cooperate?" 

Buck turned towards Josiah and JD and swallowed thickly. He hoped they understood and guessed from Josiah’s expression the Senator did. "Yeah," he said bitterly. "I’ll cooperate." 

"Good," Nabb said with a smile and turned to Ezra. "It appears you have quite the knack for this, Captain."

Ezra kept a neutral expression on his face and answered. "I am learning the rules of the game."


	9. Interrogation

 The warship had seen better days in Chris’s opinion but as the  _Tracker_  flew towards the coordinates for the rendezvous with the Rebel Alliance; the evidence of extensive refit was visible across the hull of the large vessel.

The cruiser, which appeared to be Nubian in origin, had probably done most of its service during the Clone Wars and was recently subjected to the engineering wizards at the Sluis Van shipyards who probably ensured the ship was a match for any Destroyer. Circling it like the spawn of some ocean leviathan, were at least a dozen X-Wings, fast becoming known as the fighter of choice for the Rebel Alliance. Designed specifically to be a highly manoeuvrable craft for close quarters aerial combat, the X Wing had proven itself in several encounters to be far superior and more serviceable than Imperial TIE fighters.  

The minute the  _Tracker_  landed in the hanger of the warship, which Mary told them, was called  _Purgatory;_ it was clear to both Jedi and bounty hunter just how much authority Mary wielded in the Rebel Alliance. There was not a person on board who did not recognise her or move to salute her as she walked past. A young ensign was despatched to escort her to the bridge where she would be expected to take command as master of the vessel. As she walked with them through the innards of the ship, her departure was observed by most of the technicians on deck and the impression Chris got from them was one of silent awe. Vin noticed it too and was staring at the blond woman in a new light, wondering what she had done to earn such respect from those around her.  

Mary seemed uncomfortable by the attention however, even when the ensign rabbited on endlessly about how they were looking forward to her arrival and despite the loss of Josiah Sanchez and Nathan Jackson, were glad her safety had not been compromised. Chris could tell she was very nearing the end of her patience with the ensign because it did not comfort her to know Nathan and Josiah were in their unfortunate situation because of her.  

"Those are the new X wings?" Vin inquired, still staring at the docked vessels as they exited the hangar where the rest of the squadrons for the _Purgatory_ was berthed.  

"Yes," Mary answered; glad for the change in subject that did not involve how thrilled everyone was to have her here. Command was something she was good at but it wasn't something she did in isolation. Mary never considered her victories hers alone. There were usually good people under her command to help her succeed." They were designed by Corellian engineers for the Naboo but since the upheaval there, the manufacturing funding ran dry and production stopped midway. The Alliance was able to step in and purchase the prototypes and complete the design with a few modifications." 

"Like what?" Chris inquired, admiring the sleek snubbed nose vessel. He liked their expedient and compact design and wondered how they handled. 

"Well they have a greater fuel capacity than most fighters which means they are capable of making long range flights without having to stop and refuel. Considering what activity we engage in, our biggest weakness is we have to stop at outposts and stations to refuel when flying missions where there is no warship support. We have a better chance of survival if our pilots don't have to stray into populated areas for refuelling." 

"Good point." Vin agreed. "I noticed the engines are different too. You have additional boosters?"  

"Two." Mary confirmed. "Mostly to give us just a little more speed than your standard TIE fighter." 

"Who pays for all this?" The bounty hunter inquired. Compared to the Empire, the Rebel Alliance was fledgling but there could be no doubt the organisation was well-equipt. It took millions of credits to achieve half of what Vin was seeing here and this was meant to be only one ship out of hundreds the Alliance was rumoured to have in its arsenal. 

"Most of it comes from our supporters who used to be in the Senate. When Palpatine turned it into the Imperial Senate, he made no secret of whom he considered unwanted elements to the body. His method of ensuring they stayed out of politics was extreme to say the least. Most of them went into hiding and prior to doing so dissolved all their assets for donation to the cause. There’s a slush fund on Alderaan, Mon Calamari, Sluis Van, Corellia, Sollust and some smaller star systems, not to mention they divert their supply surplus to us when they can and then there’s the private sector. More and more governments are joining us, we estimate once the segregation policy comes into effect, that number will increase." 

"You expect to win against the Imperial war machine?" Vin could not help but be dubious despite the impressive show of coordination being displayed here. As he walked down the corridors, he had to admit that this was no group of rabble. The men and women he saw, both human and alien were in every strict sense of the word, soldiers. They conducted themselves like officers of the Republic and inwardly, Vin could not deny that he would like to see them prevail in the face of their conviction and obvious dedication. 

"Not immediately." Mary responded, not perturbed by the question because it was a valid point. "We are a long way from being able to stand up to Palpatine. We estimate it might be a decade perhaps even two before we are really ready to challenge him. He’s been preparing for a very long time to become Emperor and his people were placed well in advance before the Senate voted him in as Chancellor. All we can hope to do is circumvent him where we can." 

Chris said nothing because she was right. It would take twenty years, perhaps even more before the Empire was toppled. He knew this without doubt because prescience was a Jedi gift and while it was not always clear, some things impressed themselves upon him more than others. Once again, he thought about Tatooine and what waited there for Palpatine and Vader, the secret that had to be protected at all costs from both men. If either knew about Tatooine, then there would be no future and the Rebel Alliance would be doomed.  

"I have a request." Chris said suddenly. Mary was in a position to convey this point to the higher echelons of the Rebel Alliance. He was sure Obi-Wan would have taken precautions but he could not be certain since Ben ensured no one could reach him on Tatooine.

Mary looked over her shoulder at him. "Name it." 

"Tatooine." He stated firmly.

"Tatooine?" Vin looked at the Jedi wondering why his home world had suddenly been mentioned. "What about it?" 

There was something in Chris’s voice that made her pause and Mary stared at him noticing his expression was stony, not unlike the tough mask he presented to her when they had first met and he considered her a stranger. "As far as I know Tatooine is under the purview of the Hutts, isn’t that right?" She glanced at Vin for confirmation. 

"Its still considered Imperial space but they know who is in charge," Vin answered.  

"Keep the Rebel Alliance off Tatooine." Chris stated firmly.  

"What’s on Tatooine?" Mary asked, her curiosity piqued. 

"Nothing that need concern the Alliance at this point. All you need to know is you do not go there, you do not give the Empire any reason to take a closer look at it." Chris gazed across the corridor and the rebel officers walking past them on their way to other places in the ship. "If the cause you fight for means anything to you, you  _must_   stay off Tatooine. Trust me, when the times comes, you'll understand why." 

"You’re serious aren’t you?" She saw the penetrating look in his eyes and knew he was not exaggerating. The rumours about the Emperor and Lord Vader were thick and rife. Mary tried not to listen to them but it was hard not to believe that both were Sith Lords, a master and an apprentice, especially after they had taken such exception to the Jedi and were determined to wipe them out of existence. 

"Vader cannot go to Tatooine." Chris said coolly but his voice felt like slivers of ice and the two with him felt it most acutely. They did not know why Darth Vader could not go to Tatooine but every fibre of their being told them it was vital this never happened. "If Darth Vader arrives on Tatooine, then its over. Your Alliance will die and you will never be rid of the Empire." 

"What’s there that’s important enough to do that?" Mary could not help but ask. 

Chris did not answer and kept walking. However, Vin sensed something from the Jedi and though it was vague, it had enough form for Vin to recognise the word if not the meaning.

_Skywalker._

* * *

 

 

Ezra Standish did not wish to be at the interrogation of Buck Wilmington but considering his complicity in the matter, found it was impossible to stay away. Nabb had been with the freighter captain for hours now and although he was being treated to a veritable fountain of information, Ezra had serious doubts as to its usefulness. Once Ezra imparted to the man how to save his youthful friend, Ezra was morbidly curious to remain to see how the captain took his advice. In truth, he was rather relieved Captain Wilmington had opted to step into the place of his young companion because while it appeared he might hold up against a lengthy interrogation, it did not look like his young friend could do the same.

Ezra remained in the background as always, preferring to allow Nabb to revel in the delight of centre stage because the man was ambitious and would no doubt credit the achievement of convincing Wilmington into talking to himself instead of Ezra, when he wrote his report. Ezra hardly cared. He long passed the point where he actively sought recognition for his efforts. The way things were in the service of late; Ezra had come to the conclusion the safest place for him to be was where no one noticed him. On Coruscant, he was allowed that anonymity. At the central hub of the Empire, he was just one uniform in an ocean of uniforms. He went about his duties and retired to the club circuit at night, where he would lament the loss of his friends and the way things used to be by taking helpless victims for everything they had, in what usually started out as a ‘friendly’ game of sabaac. 

"You’ve been very helpful Captain Wilmington," Nabb’s voice broke into Ezra’s thoughts with that statement.   
  
Ezra looked up in time to see Nabb preparing to ask his final question, perhaps the most important one he had so far been holding back from Wilmington. The captain, who was strapped to a steel chair, appeared calm even though Ezra could tell he was battling his own worries. This was not a man who felt fear often; Ezra realised after studying Buck Wilmington closely. Pilots rarely flinched when looking down the barrel of a gun. Corellians were even worse. Possibly one of the oldest space faring races in the galaxy, Corellia’s main export were its pilots. There were none finer and they all came with the uncanny knack of being able to force a ship no sane pilot would attept. Wilmington glanced once or twice in his direction trying to determine  what Ezra was in all this.  

"Now," Nabb circled the prisoner again. "You will tell me where we find Mary Travis." 

"I left her on Cordoba." Buck responded, perfectly aware the minute he and the others had failed to return with Nathan, Mary would have contacted the Alliance to be taken off world. Besides, the Empire already knew she was there. He would be telling them nothing new. 

"Where on Cordoba?" Nabb inquired. The Colonel dropped his hand on Buck’s shoulder and stared at the interrogation technicians who were standing by at the corner of the room with their mind probes and fire knives, ready to take over at his first order. The gesture was meant to remind BuckNabb had more persuasive methods at his disposal as if the sight of them was not already enough to do that.  

Buck thought quickly, deciding there and then that the name they would not get from him regarding Mary’s whereabouts was the Four Corners Tavern. He would rather die than lead this bastard to Inez. He was not afraid of torture if it meant protecting her but if he could avoid it, he would prefer to do so. Besides, he needed to be one hundred per cent if he was going to survive this and help the others, especially JD. Suddenly a flash of inspiration came to him that would have almost produced a smile of glee if the act would not have given him away.  

"Do you promise to let the boy go?" Buck asked softly, meeting Nabb’s gaze.  

Nabb straightened up and glanced in Ezra’s direction with another proud expression on his face before facing his prisoner again. "I might be persuaded to do so if you can deliver her to me." 

"I don’t know whether I can deliver her to you as such," Buck let out a sigh as if volunteering the information was making him visibly ill. His expression darkened and his voice became a hoarse whisper. "I can tell you to whom I entrusted her to get her off-world if we didn’t come back."  

"That is a start." Nabb retorted. "Continue." He prompted with dwindling patience apparent in his manner.  

"The Rebels have a courier on Cordoba they use to smuggle out important members. Most of the time they use my ship but when the heat is on like it has been since Nathan was captured, my ship is considered a security risk and we transfer courier duties to another." Buck explained, hoping what he was telling this colonel sounded convincing. 

"Go on." Nabb ordered, listening closely and appearing as if he did believe.  

"The courier runs a freighter business out of the bar at the Cordoba space port. Most of his trade is legitimate passenger trips off world and his ship is a corvette which means he can take a lot of them at once. That’s how he smuggles Alliance members through the customs officials, he make them all look like part of a tour group. Before I left Cordoba, Travis instructed me to take her to him. She claimed she was going to leave until we got back but with us being overdue, it’s a good bet she’s skipped town. You can still track the corvette easily enough though. To keep up appearances, he has to do the full tour you know, so he won’t be hitting light speed too much." 

Nabb understood what Buck was attempting to say but he still did not have what he wanted. "The name of this person?"

"Nardo." Buck answered after a moment of hesitation, not wanting to appear too helpful. "He’s a Rodian. Not many of them own a corvette so you’ll find him easily. I’m pretty sure he has leased a permanent bay at the station."

Nabb started to smile. "Well that was very helpful of you Mr Wilmington," the Colonel replied. "Now, the name of your companion?" 

"The kid?" Buck swallowed, realising the Colonel had started to guess Josiah might be more important than he looked. All this time, Buck had been providing the man with all sorts of information he knew would be made worthless the moment the Alliance knew he had been captured. The efficiency of the organization in that respect had no peer. The Alliance knew how to protect its own and one of the first things Mary would have done upon learning of his capture was minimise the danger he posed should he be coerced into this very same position. Operatives would be told to disappear, contact points would be abandoned and the Imperial advantage of having this information would very quickly wither. However, Josiah was another thing entirely. Josiah had access to _everything_ , including the names of higher echelon Alliance members.  

"You know perfectly well I am not referring to the boy." Nabb retorted, his lips thinning with menace. 

"All I know is he’s a member of the local rebel cell of which Travis was supposed to assume command. He was meant to escort her back to their secret location." Buck responded. "I don’t have that information because I never went there. It was considered too risky because I might get captured."  

Ezra found his voice at that point. "That would be logical." Ezra said to Nabb. "If he’s just a courier, there would be no reason to tell him and as we know by now, the Alliance does not like to risk its members unnecessarily." 

"Did Jackson tell you that?" The Colonel asked with a hint of accusation. 

Ezra straightened up, pretending to take more offence at that remark than he really felt. "What are you implying?" 

"Nothing." Nabb retorted. Ezra may have been his junior officer but if the captain chose to push the point, he could. Since Nabb made such an obvious slur at his loyalty, Ezra was perfectly entitled to bring it to the attention of Coruscant to address the allegations. If Nabb did not have any proof to substantiate his claim, he would be censured, even if he was a Colonel. "I was merely noticing you seem to be supporting this rebel and his statements." 

"I am not supporting his statements," Ezra said hotly. "I am merely pointing out this is the proven standard from the other rebels we have captured. If you are slandering me simply because I did the research and you did not, I would like to know it Sir. I will file my report next to yours for my insubordination." 

Nabb took a deep breath and considered the inconvenience of such an action from the captain and realised that it was not worth the trouble. As it was, he had no intention of letting his superiors know how manageable Ezra made the prisoners, since he was intending to take the credit himself. Should Ezra submit a report of his own, it might look contradictory to the one he would submit and would raise embarrassing questions. "No need for such drastic action." Nabb replied calmly hoping the gesture would soothe Ezra'sruffled feathers. "Just making sure you were on the ride side." 

"The only side I am on Sir, with all due respect, is _mine_." Ezra glared at him with unmasked hostility to ensure  Nabb knew just how seriously he took the insult.  

"A wise choice." Nabb remarked. "Since you harbour no personal feelings in this matter, you’ll return this prisoner to his cell and give instructions to bring his older companion here." The colonel tried not to mind the fact a subordinate had backed him into a corner and told himself inwardly to keep watch on the man. Anyone that fiercely protective of his skin had _something_ to hide.

 "Yes Sir," Ezra said sweetly and with exaggerated care, aware of the danger he now placed himself by his response and wondered if he should have taken it as personally as he had. However, the more Ezra started to think about it, the more repulsive this entire situation was becoming and in particular, his part in it. Ever since Nathan was captured and Ezra summoned here, he had been giving his situation a great deal of thought and kept returning to the one answer he did not at want.

Because for the first time, Ezra was starting to believe that Nathan might be right.

* * *

 

Although her crew expected her to take command, Mary chose not to for the moment. She appeared on the bridge long enough to make the obligatory speeches and introduce her two companions. Vin, as expected raised an eyebrow because he was clearly indentified as a bounty hunter, not merely by the weapons he carried on his person but the faded emblem on the collar of his jacket indicating he was apart of the Bounty Hunters Guild. She strongly suspected if not for her endorsement of him, the man would have found himself languishing inside the brig at first opportunity. Fortunately their attention on Vin was fleeting once they saw the faint outline of a lightsabre hanging from within the folds of Chris Larabee’s robe. The Jedi always inspired awe and Chris Larabee was no exception. His persona was such he captured the room anyway but when coupled with the legend of the Jedi, no one could turn their eyes away.

Once the formalities were taken care of however, Mary, Chris and Vin retired to her new private office where the requests she made of her crew prior to boarding were already laid out waiting for her perusal. This included the best the Alliance could manage in producing a layout of the Doldur Imperial base where Nathan, Josiah, Buck and JD were being kept at the moment. In this case the layout was the original construction blue prints which thought technically perfect were not as accurate as she would have liked. Still, it was better than nothing and at least they had some idea of where the terminal ports were located and what was the best place to penetrate the energy shield. 

"Your best chance is through this sewer hatchway." Mary noted as they studied the plans on the viewer table below them. Her finger traced the line of passage on the luminescent screen so they could see to what she was referring. "I know it’s hardly the best way to tour the facility but if you can avoid their sensors, you’ll get a considerable distance into the installation without being detected."

"It comes out short before the brig though." Vin pointed out as he made the examination for himself. "But we wouldn’t have far to go." He paused a moment and considered the idea that suddenly formed in his head. Looking up a second later he met Mary’s gaze. "Do you think you could get me a storm trooper uniform?" 

Mary allowed her gaze to sweep past him and remarked with a wry smile. "You’re a little short to be a storm trooper."

"Hey." Vin remarked, giving her a look as she and Chris chuckled softly.  

"I think we can manage." She nodded sobering up after the moment of levity, which in retrospect, she decided they sorely needed. "What do you have in mind?" 

"I’m thinking that if we have to come out in the open to reach the brig, we could use it as a way to be less noticeable. After all, we’re marching into a detention block, it won’t seem out of the ordinary if I look like a storm trooper escorting a prisoner." 

"Makes sense." Chris agreed. "We might use to the same tactic when we try to get back out again."  

"Which brings us to the next problem." Mary sighed. "If we’re going to do this, we’ve established you can’t use the  _Tracker_  to reach the surface. However, if we use anything larger than a fighter, its going to get attention and this entire operation will be for nothing." 

"You mean we’ll have to make our way to the landing bay and steal a ship?" Vin exclaimed. 

"More or less." Mary retorted. "Hence the problem." 

"We don’t have a choice," Chris retorted before another thought occured to him. "Do we have any intelligence that the  _Rogue_  was brought to the station as well?"

"The  _Rogue_ ," she mused, having considered that before. "I had forgotten about Buck’s ship. She’s a Corsair isn’t she?" 

"A Corsair." Vin rose a brow. "That’s a nice ship. Especially an Incom Corsair." He knew the reputation of such vessels and as a freighter, she was fast and well armoured. With multiple gunnery turrets and extra shielding, she could take several direct shots from a large warship and still maintain deflector strength.  

"It is an Incom Corsair." Chris informed Vin automatically, recalling with a little smile Buck's pride when he first presented the vessel to Chris. It was just after Buck had walked away from the service of the Republi. Then again, military life always seemed ill suited for his friend. Buck was a wild spirit and he was never more so when behind the controls of  _that_  particular ship. Chris supposed it made all the difference when it was his own.  

"Well if they followed standard Imperial procedure, they’ll want to examine the ship from top to bottom to see if there is anything on board that can lead them to us. I would seriously doubt they would do this search on a Destroyer so I believe there is a good chance the  _Rogue_ will be in the Doldur installation. You can confirm this when you interface with a terminal port. The docking manifest should have that information." Mary explained and then added after a moment’s thought.  "A full scan would require the facilities on an Imperial base. They’ll want to get into the main computer and review all the data in its memory banks. Since they’re after us, I’ll almost guarantee they’ll pay extremely close attention to all port of calls and passenger manifests to correlate the names and places with the whereabouts of known Alliance operatives." 

"So it would be a good idea to get the ship back too." Vin concluded, secretly coming to the conclusion if he got out of this with his skin intact, it would be a miracle. 

"Add that to the shopping list." She flashed them both a smile of mischief. 

"Shopping list." Vin remarked with a knowing smirk. "Women."

Chris remained silent though he was well aware their attempt at humour was an effort to hide just how dangerous this mission truly was, not just for himself and Vin but for Mary and the Alliance. He would have liked to have joined in their humour but his emergence from his self-imposed exile was still too new. Although he trusted Vin Tanner and his feelings for Mary Travis were undefinable by  _any_  standards, he just could not bring himself to get too attached to either of them just yet.


	10. Skywalker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note this was written before the Revenge of the Sith so assume Padme's fate as canon-diversion.

Ezra had been relegated to command duty after his confrontation with Nabb over the questioning of prisoners. In truth, he found this a more palatable a task than being present at an interrogation. He had not seen Nathan in almost a day, not since he informed his former best friend about the Colonel’s plans for him and the friends captured trying to rescue him. A part of Ezra was ashamed to face Nathan, perhaps feeling more than ever, the truth about the rebel's words. However, acknowledging that truth would lead Ezra to a course of action he was not yet prepared to take. Thus, he was more than happy to be spared the need to make any uncomfortable decisions by being assigned to the command deck of the Doldur station.

The chronometer indicated it was late evening and so far Nabb’s interrogation of the three prisoners had yielded nothing further than what Buck Wilmington already provided. The older of the three was subjected to heavy questioning and Ezra’s stomach hollowed realising the interrogation would have most likely have reached the torture stage by now. The man proved just as adamant at revealing nothing to Nabb as the Colonel was about extracting it. The impasse could not last long, Ezra decided. The prisoner’s endurance was finite and if he did not die first, he would soon be happily telling all his secrets just to make the pain stop.  

Ezra tried not to think about what the prisoners were enduring and how he would face Nathan when they were dead or broken. Instead, he allowed his sea coloured eyes to sweep past the command centre, watching a handful of officers behind their consoles, lost in their work, which though important, had the stale aroma of routine. Voices were spoken in hushed tones for it was unseemly to be loud in a place that ran on discipline as much as this. As he stood at the large window and stared across the landscape of the small moon where the base was situated, he saw an amber maelstrom brewing beyond the protective glass. Thanks to the gas giant that was Doldur 3, the intense gravitational forces emanating from the world turned the small moon in a swirling mass of sand blown storms. Survival outside the station was negligible which was why it served so well as a military base. 

He could see the faint outline of Doldur 3 in the sky because the storms beyond the glass more or less blacked out the sky with its high winds. Ezra sighed and turned away, suddenly feeling an intense feeling of homesickness for Coruscant, the centre of the galaxy as far as the Empire was concerned. Ezra loved it because Coruscant was a place of marvels. The city covered the entire planet was almost ten thousand years old. Ezra had spent much time exploring all the streets in Coruscant Centre, following the layers upon layers of streets and buildings that had been built over the centuries. There was always something to find, something to occupy one’s time and _everyone_ went to  Coruscant.  

Ezra had a strange premonition he would  _not_  be seeing it soon. 

"Captain," a young ensign called out to him from her station. 

Ezra raised his eyes and returned his concentration to where he was and what he was meant to be doing. The young lady waited for him in expectation as he strode over and her gaze returned to her console when he finally arrived. 

"Ensign Lumiya, is it not?" Ezra inquired politely. He knew the name and remembered that she was the sensor officer.  

"Yes Sir." She responded. "I’ve detected something on our long range sensors, it just came out of hyperspace at Vector 23.2." Her eyes shifted to the screen before her, prompting Ezra to do the same. 

Ezra leaned forward studied the readings and noted whatever the signal approaching them, it was much too large and fast to be normal commercial traffic frequenting the area. The only thing that moved like this was a warship and as far as Ezra knew, the one that deposited their prisoners to the base had since left the area and was on its way to Cordoba in order to investigate the information about the Rodian courier. Standing upright again, he turned toward the direction of the lieutenant manning the communications section of the command centre. 

"Lieutenant." Ezra spoke up across the floor. "Are there any vessels due here today?"  

The lieutenant conferred with his screen and then faced the captain once more with an answer. "Not that I am aware of Sir."

Ezra ignored the tightening in his stomach and considered what to do. "There is a ship approaching at Vector 23.2. Open a communication channel and ask them to state their business. Inform them they are in danger of violating restricted Imperial space." 

"Yes Captain Standish." The lieutenant returned automatically and faced his workstation to accomplish just that.

Ezra however, was not preparing to wait. There was something else at foot here, he could feel it with every fibre of his being. Not waiting for the lieutenant to provide him with a response, Ezra faced Ensign Lumiya once more. "Has it entered scanning range?"  

"It will in approximately two minutes." She informed him and immediately noted the slight grimace that stole across his handsome features, indicating that two minutes was much too long for his liking.

"How long until they reach the perimeter of the deflector shield?" Ezra inquired after a second’s pause trying to determine what to do. If there was one thing that Ezra knew how to do with flawless accuracy, it was the ability to judge a situation when the pressure was on. At this moment, his senses were warning him of danger and he could feel time pressing up against his spine, demanding he act before it was too late.

"One minute." She answered, realising now he had good reasons for his suspicions. 

"Captain," the lieutenant called out. "The vessel is not answering our requests for identification. I’m also detecting a number of localised short ranged signals. They are not very dissimilar from the kind of signals exchanged between fighters during combat."

"That was what I was afraid of." Ezra nodded and realised he had enough information to proceed. "Put the base on red alert." He ordered no one in particular but heard the klaxons indicating obedience of his demand. "Lieutenant Tank, contact Colonel Nabb at the detention block, inform him we may be under attack and activate the deflector shield immediately."

"Yes Sir." Came a return response through the howling of klaxons throughout the command centre. The lethargic pace had disappeared entirely and as the red glow of alert flared throughout the area, everyone was mobilised for trouble.

"Deflector shield activated!" Someone announced and Ezra could see the evidence of it on the screen before him as the image projected the invisible grid around the base unseen through the naked eye but was nevertheless there.

"I’ve identified the ships Sir," Ensign Lumiya finally replied once the data had come up on the screen. "The lead ship is definitely a warship. Its Nubian. Heavy combat cruiser with reinforced armour and multiple gun batteries. The smaller ships with it, I count at least a dozen at this point, are X-wing class fighters."

Ezra let out a deep sigh and responded. "In other words, rebels." 

* * *

"The deflector shield is up." Mary’s executive officer stated as she sat in her command chair on the bridge of the  _Purgatory_ , as the vessel closed in on the Imperial base. In the view screen before her, the sky was filled with the gas giant that was Doldur 3 and almost insignificant in comparison, was the small moon on which their target was waiting. The activation of the installation’s deflector shield ensured the base could endure orbital bombardment for quite some time and while the structure itself would take a beating, the Alliance would not be able to completely topple its defences before the Empire was able to send reinforcements. No doubt even as she sat here, the Imperials would already be calling for help. 

"Alright," Mary answered, expecting nothing less. "Tell our fighters to make their run at the shield. The purpose is to make a lot of noise, not to take the base." 

"Aye Sir." She heard the Lieutenant Commander Chano respond in the background. As he went to carry out her orders, Mary flipped a switch on the armrest of her command chair. While she waited for the customary cackle of electronically depicted air, Mary glanced at the screen and saw the X-wings accelerate ahead of the warship, the flare of blue igniting in their thrusters as they pulled further ahead. It was a breathtaking sight despite the circumstances and she could not help but become lost in its beauty for a few seconds. 

"Mary." Chris’s voice escaped the in built speakers in her chair. She blinked away the reverie she was indulging in  and returned to the grim reality of the day.  

"The X-wings are moving to engage now." She informed him coolly. "Are you and Vin ready to launch?" The inquiry was made with a completely dispassionate tone but inwardly, she worried a little about him and felt guilty she had forced him out of his cocoon into this deadly situation.  

"Yeah." His soft voice responded and left tingles on her skin after the speaking. She wondered if his Jedi senses picked up her concern but supposed he would have to be in the room to do that. "We’re on the launch pad." 

"You have a go then." She answered, sounding a little mercurial but that was the best way to be around him. "Good luck." She added finally. Once again, Mary hid all evidence of her personal feelings in the matter, sounding as if he were just another soldier under her command whom she was sending out on a mission that could kill him. 

"Thanks." He responded just as neutrally. "I’ll see you when we get back." With that, the line between them was severed and for a few seconds after his voice faded into the memory of her mind, a sense of awkwardness gripped her. She chided herself for not saying more but then on closer thought could not imagine what  _more_  might be. 

A small voice in the back of her mind whispered it to her and Mary baulked immediately at the notion. Her husband had been gone almost as long as Chris’s wife and child had been dead. Unlike he, she had not disappeared into a bottle from grief but then men dealt with pain a lot differently than women. They liked to think they were stronger but in actual fact, their tolerance for such things was remarkably lacking. It made no difference who they were and what station in life they occupied, it effected them all the same way but with a Jedi Knight it had to be more profound. It was one thing to know your loved ones were gone but Mary could not imagine what it must have been like for Chris to  _feel_   it.  

She did know one thing with absolute clarity, if anything happened to him out there and he died because she forced him into helping her, then it would be Mary who would be certainly feeling it too.  

* * *

The small snubbed nose fighter escaped the launch bay of the  _Purgatory_  looking like the dozens others already in space, heading towards the base where they would soon be confronted by the deflector shield. Although there was almost no chance of penetrating it, the ships would nonetheless fire their torpedoes, creating enough of a distraction so the Empire would be too busy trying to survive the attack, to give serious considerations as to why the rebels had suddenly become so bold. Prior to this, the rebels made one thing clear; they did not believe in open engagements or attacking on the offensive. Mary hoped the distraction would not only give Chris the window of opportunity they needed but also keep the Empire off balance about the Alliance’s tactics. 

The last X-wing to emerge from the  _Purgatory_  did not join the rest of the squadron, choosing instead to pull away from the small fighter group. Losing itself in the wilderness, it plotted a wide course towards the moon, careful to remain out of sensor range of Imperial scanners who by now were more interested in the squadron firing torpedoes at their deflector shield. The lone X-wing would circumnavigate the satellite, flying close to the ground beneath scanner range until they were on top of the station. A ship of this size had no cloak and so they had to rely on the atmospheric disturbances of the small moon to mask the rest of their approach.  

"How she handle?" Vin asked as they closed in on the moon. The battle taking place on the other side of the satellite was hardly noticeable and all they could see was the glow of Doldur 3 bouncing off the horizon.  

"Pretty good." Chris responded and could not deny that he enjoyed piloting again. It had been too long since he had done it and quickly discontinued the memory because the last time he had flown anywhere was during his return home to Corellia, fighting time and hope to reach Sarah and Adam before it was too late. And of course it had been. However, he knew the danger of allowing such thoughts to filter into his mind and crushed them under the weight of his perfect control, now well and truly in use again.

"Can you tell me something?" Vin asked once again, his voice somewhat ginger because he was uncertain how Chris would take this particular question. "When you were talking about Tatooine, I felt something from you."

Chris tensed and told himself he would have to shield himself better. In fact, should he survive this mission, he was certainly going to reacquaint himself with some Jedi exercises to return him to his former level of mastery over the Force. There was a time when such lapses were impossible from him which only proved what a year of drinking and not giving a damn could do to a person.

"What was that?" He asked calmly, trying not to show he was uncomfortable with the topic at present. However, it was just the two of them and Chris knew whatever he told Vin would not leave the confines of this ship or make it through the vacuum to reach someone else.

"It's not so much as a feeling as it was a word." Vin tried to explain and hoped in the future, such discussions would become easier because at the moment, it felt like hell. He was not a vocal person to begin with and feelings were something he kept close to himself so discussing them felt extremely alien to the lone bounty hunter.

"And that word was?" Chris prompted, having a bad feeling he knew what it was going to be even before Vin spoke it out loud. 

"Skywalker." 

 _Damn. Damn. Damn._  

Chris swore repeatedly in silence, unable to believe he had let  _that_  of all things slip out of his mind. He trusted Vin Tanner but that kind of information could conceivably get the bounty hunter killed should those who cared were made aware of his knowledge. However, Vin was strong in the Force and Chris wondered whether telling him might cement the young man's understanding of Chris's trust in him. Besides, the truth was, he needed to tell  _someone_. If anything should happen to him and it was possible because as a Jedi he was far from anonymous as Obi-Wan was, someone had to warn the Jedi Master on  Tatooine should danger come his way or the very least, safe guard his interests from offworld.

"What I about to tell you stays here. Do you understand?" Chris answered finally. "Make no mistake on this, if the Emperor finds out what I am about to tell you then it will make a bounty on your head seem incidental by comparison. They'll hunt you down and find you, no matter how far you run." 

Vin shuddered because he could actually feel the intensity of Chris's words through the compartments in the cockpit where the Jedi was seated. The cold dread he could feel running through his veins like ice water made Vin wonder what other surprises Chris had in store for him. "Okay, okay, I got it. Turn it off, whatever it is you're doing." 

Chris allowed his faint smile but did not 'turn' it off as Vin asked, feeling the bounty hunter needed to feel it to truly appreciate what Chris was about to tell him. "Skywalker is Darth Vader's real name." Chris spoke after a lengthy pause. The nose of the X-wing had started to dip towards the lunar surface and Chris could see the storms of its turbulent ecosystem as he directed the ship into the atmosphere. 

"Skywalker, I know that name." Vin mused. "Why?" 

"He was one of the greatest pilots of the Clone Wars, he was also a Jedi." Chris continued. "There was a prophecy in Jedi lore there would come one who would bring balance to the Force. We believed Anakin Skywalker was the one, his midiclorion count was unlike anything we had ever seen. It was even more potent then some of the Jedi Masters of the time, including the oldest of us, Yoda. Skywalker was trained as Jedi but fell under the influence of Palpatine, who as rumors suggest, is a Sith Lord, an order of dark Jedi who draw their power from the dark side of the Force."

"The dark side?" Vin remarked, finding athat somewhat silly. How many sides could there be?

"The Force gives us strength but how we accept that strength is what defines us. If we used our powers through anger, we are unleashing its dark side and once down that path, it is often hard to stop. The Sith Lords and there only ever two, a master and an apprentice, use aggression and hatred to feed the dark side." Chris was no Jedi Master, for that matter, not even a teacher. He hoped he explained it clearly enough for Vin to understand. "Skywalker became Palpatine's apprentice and changed his name to Darth Vader. With Vader at his side, the most powerful of the Jedi, Palpatine began the slaughter."

"So what's this got to do with Tatooine?" Vin inquired, appreciating the effort Chris was making to fill the gaps but it did not answer his original question.

"Before Anakin became Darth Vader, he was married." Chris resumed his narration after he sent the X-wing plunging into the atmosphere of the moon. The velvet darkness of space was soon replaced by swirling cloud of amber gas, making visibility almost non existent. However, Chris did not require scanners to lead him. The Force was a far better guide to that end. Fortunately both Vin and Chris were experienced space travelers and the turbulence had little effect on either man. "His wife was pregnant when he joined Palpatine. Vader knows about the child but he doesn't know where he is. The mother also went into hiding, keeping herself as far away from the baby who entrusted into the care of Jedi Master named Obi-Wan Kenobi." Chris saw no need to tell Vin about the other child whose best protection at the moment was her anonymity. 

"I don't get it," Vin retorted. "What's the big deal if he knows?" 

"The son of Skywalker cannot become a Jedi." He responded almost automatically. "A son of Skywalker would be just as powerful, perhaps even more than his father. We don't for sure but if anyone can stop Vader, it will be that child. He is our last hope." 

Vin began to understand and realised now what he let himself in for by pursuing the question with Chris. It shocked him Chris trusted him with something so important but it also angered him because knowing had changed his life forever. He could never return to what he knew with this secret imbedded in his mind because if anyone ever suspected, Chris was right, he'd be hunted until they found him, no matter where he ran.

"He's on Tatooine, isn't he?" Vin whispered softly, finally appreciating the intricate tapestry Chris Larabee crafted for him. "The child is on Tatooine, that's why you can't have Vader going there. He'll know. The minute he steps on the planet, he'll  _know_." 

"That's right." The Jedi nodded begrudgingly. "I told you because I trust you Vin and I've trusted you with the most important secret I have because I know you can keep it." 

"You have my word Chris," Vin found himself saying, a sense of pride at having engendered such faith. "I know it doesn't mean much coming from a bounty hunter but I'll die before I tell anyone what I know." 

"I need more than that from you." Chris countered, not preparing to settle for just that. 

Fortunately, Vin understood that too. "I'll die before I let harm Vader harm the child."

It surprised the bounty hunter to make that admission. However through all this, Vin realised one thing; he was the last of a proud tradition and until he accepted what he was and embrace it, he would spend his entire life wondering what kind of man he might have been instead of the one he could be. He was not Jedi and Vin suspected he would never be but it did not mean the Force didn't exist inside of him. All his life, he searched to belong and suddenly, out of nowhere, he had found his place and strangely enough; it appeared to be at the side of this Jedi who counted Vin as one of his own.

It was a good feeling.

* * *

Ezra Standish had a bad feeling.

It was rare for him to experience genuine feelings of foreboding. Normally whenever he sensed caution, he was able to read the situation and eventually disarm the threat coming at him. It was unusual for the situation to escalate to the point where he felt such concern it evolved into a physical sensation and yet, here it was, gnawing at his insides like a pair of ravenous womp rats. The view outside the window of the command center yielded the same picture he saw before all this begun, a whirlwind of radiation and gas. There were no signs of the danger he felt all around them at present.

"Get our fighters out there!" Nabb was screaming at Lieutenant Tank. "Kill those rebel bastards!" 

"Sir, there's no reason to deploy our TIE fighters." The lieutenant declared helplessly, seeking Ezra's voice to support his statement. "The deflector shield is holding. They can shake us up but they can't penetrate the shield."

Unfortunately, he timed the end of that statement with another blast from the rebel ships firing torpedoes at them. The entire base shuddered at the impact of the energy burst. The ground trembled violently and the signs of apprehension became thicker and more palpable. It did not help the commander on deck was screaming orders like a frightened child. Nabb was not a battlefield commander. He had gained his rank because he was the kind of sadistic operative that Palpatine's regime seemed to thrive on these days. He spent most of his time catching traitors and very little time facing combat situations like these. 

"He's right." Ezra spoke up. "This entire escapade of theirs is foolish. They cannot penetrate the deflector shield and we are capable of withstanding their attack far longer than they are able to wage it." 

"I don't care!" The man roared furiously. "I want those ships in the air now." 

"Nabb!" Ezra retaliated, not even bothering with military codes of behavior or protocol any longer. "For our fighters to engage the rebels, we have to drop the deflector shield! They have a Nubian warship up there! All they have to do is target our shield generator and we will be defenseless. Panicking will not resolve anything! We can wait them out. We've dispatched a distress signal to the _Necromancer_ , it will be here soon and then we can round them up!"  

"How dare you!" Nabb glared at him when he realised the entire command staff had viewed the exchange between Captain and Colonel and were waiting in anticipation to see how things unfolded. Nabb's face turned a shade of crimson, his voice a growl as he spoke. "I will have you up on charges of insubordination! You will spend the next ten years in a cell next to your rebel friends! Lieutenant Tank," Nabb turned to the lieutenant. "Carry out my orders! Get our fighters into the air immediately!"

Ezra swore under his breath and stepped away, realizing in this contest he would have to accept defeat because Nabb was in command. Once again that bad feeling washed over him because he could not understand this entire situation or the rebels' plan of attack. Surely they had to know they could not penetrate the deflector shield to begin with? They could not have anticipated Nabb's behavior to know that he would panic and send fighters after them. Only a fool would gamble on that but then if they were not expecting that, why attack at all? If it had been any commander other than Nabb, the shield would remain up and their assault would have failed completely. All they would have succeeded in doing was creating something of a commotion but the base itself would remain unaffected. Surely, they knew that?

And then it hit him. They  _did_   know that!  

Nabb was giving them more of an opening than he realised and Ezra spun around towards the Colonel, ready to explain what he uncovered when another thought entered his mind. The only reason the rebels could have for distracting them was to carry out a rescue. Ezra looked about to ensure no one was watching him which was easy enough to do because between Nabb and the pounding the base was taking, pandemonium seemed to be the order of the day. Ezra went to an unoccupied console and let his fingers flutter over the control pad in order to have his suspicions confirmed.

In a matter of seconds, he saw it. The lone X wing appeared on the screen, making good time through the atmosphere. It would remain on the scanner for just a few more seconds before it disappeared out of range, most likely because it was keeping close to the surface where the atmospheric conditions would mask its approach. They were coming for Nathan. This entire attack was because of Nathan! 

"What are you looking at?" Nabb asked from the center of the command deck.

Ezra glanced at the ship on the screen and suddenly found himself faced with a most difficult decision, one he had been trying so hard not to make for fear of the consequences to his life. The pilot of that ship was embarking on what should have been a suicide mission in a vain effort to rescue the only person Ezra trusted with his life. Now Ezra himself was faced with the choice of staying true to the Empire or allowing that pilot to succeed. It should have been a difficult decision but now that it was staring him in the face, Ezra found himself faced with an epiphany he could not igore. Working his fingers almost unconsciously, the  X-wing disappeared when Ezra the deactivated screen and turned to Nabb again.

"Nothing." He answered coolly. "Nothing at all."

 


	11. Rolling the Dice

"What are they doing?" Mary asked when told the Doldur base's deflector shield was lowering.

"It appears as if they are preparing to launch fighters at us." Chano informed Mary as he stood by her side while she studied the holographic image depecting the Imperial base and the energy field surrounding it.

Mary’s brow knotted in confusion, a state of mind that matched his own. "Why?" She asked out loud, not expecting an answer. "We can’t penetrate the deflector shield. There’s no reason for them to engage us directly."

"Well their deflector shield is lowering nonetheless," he reminded her. The opportunity that presented itself with this strange and somewhat foolish occurrence more than spoke for itself. Any commander worth their salt knew that. It was a once in a life time chance and had to be exploited, if for no other reason than to teach the Empire to never let down their guard.  

From the onset of their engagement with the Imperial base, they had been watching the proceedings through the viewer on the bridge. The battle, such as it was, progressed just as they expected, without any clear results. The purpose of the skirmish was to keep the station’s personnel oblivious to the covert infiltration being attempted by Chris Larabee and Vin Tanner, who at last report had landed safely on the surface without discovery. Mary maintained the bombardment of the deflector shield, anticipating eventually, the _Purgatory_ and her fighters would have to withdraw without doing any really significant damage, but satisfied their primary objective had been fulfilled, especially if Chris and Vin were able to rescue Nathan and the others. A military victory was simply out of the question. 

Until now.

The shield continued its slow deactivation, slow in that it would take 14.5 seconds to lower completely and allow TIE fighters to exit their launch hangar bays to confront the X-wings bombarding the shield so pointlessly. Once lowered, it would only take a further minute for the TIE fighters to escape the perimeter of the shield and then it would take another 14.5 minutes for the shield to be reactivated to full strength. It was a minute and a half that could change everything and though this was not what Mary planned, the opportunity to act was one she could not resist. Without even pausing to consider what she was doing, Mary turned to the gunnery officer on deck.  

"Lieutenant J'yd." Mary swung around in her chair and faced the Bothan gunner on the other side of the bridge, but well aware of the situation like every other rebel present. "Fire our ion cannon at their primary shield generator." 

"Yes Sir," the young man grinned widely, baring his canine teeth though lightly furred lips.  

"You have one minute and thirty seconds to destroy it." She added. 

It would not take that long and they both knew it. The amount of energy it took to maintain a shield of that size was easily detected by scanners of the  _Purgatory_  and the time it took for the targeting computer of the ion cannon to find that power source was infinitesimal.

The  _Purgatory_  heaved slightly when the main guns were fired. A powerful beam of energy sliced through space, escaping the Nubian's massive gun ports and began its speedy descent towards the base. The explosion when it finally reached its target was from space.

"Direct hit!" Chano exclaimed.

"Again!" Mary ordered, leaving nothing to chance but Lieutenant J'yd was already taking his second shot and then his third. Mary did not know how long he maintained the relentless assault but very soon, it would not matter. 

When the shield lowered, it did so witha  spectacular explosion that was seen from space. Holographic depictions of its grid dissapeared in a similar burst of static. 

"We got it!" Her executive officer cried out and cheering broke out across the deck as other rebel officers shared in his euphoria.  

Mary however, was by no means complacent. This had been luck. She had no idea what fool sat in command at that base but his stupidity allowed them this victory. It did nothing to change the fact Chris and the others were still down there although now, she was able to make the task of freeing the prisoners a little less daunting. "Get the rest of our pilots in the air!" Mary barked at Chano and then flicked the controls on her chair allowing her direct communication with the pilots already in space. "All fighters, the deflector shield is down. Repeat the deflector shield is down! Proceed aerial bombardment of that station!" 

As the words faded from her lips, she stood up in her chair and thought silently to herself.

_Now this is what I call a distraction._

* * *

 

 

"What was that?" Josiah Sanchez inquired from inside  cell he was presently sharing with Buck Wilmington and JD Dunne.  

The explosion that roared in their ears could be felt as profoundly as the eruption of sound. The walls quaked in reaction and the shudder moved through the ground into their bones with startling speed. When the bombardment first started, the trio of prisoners had thought that this might be their opportunity to escape. However, the efficiency of an Imperial detention cell was not a reputation given lightly and as of yet, the means to escape still eluded them. In truth, Josiah was not in any shape for a complex plan. The Senator had managed to keep his secrets even though he was tortured with the use of a mind probe, a particularly insidious device causing pain each time it detected a lie in the victim’s brainwave patterns. Josiah had not broken but his mind had felt every lie and every omission as if it were set alight on fire. 

"Another blast." JD retorted, wondering why Josiah was asking when it was like all the others before it.  

"No its not," Buck shook his head in response, detecting the same thing in the resonance of that last explosion that was different from the ones before it. Another roar of sound filled the room and this time the effects of it on the structure were starting to show, fragments of ceiling filler began to shake loose from cracks and drift to the floor. Unlike the maximum security cell Nathan Jackson was presently being incarcerated in at the moment, their cell was more of a holding area while Nabb pick and chose which one of them he would subject to torture. It was nowhere as impregnable as the cell Nathan was being kept in.  

They could see the other Imperial prisoners in other cages not unlike their own, further down the corridor. Buck's stomach hollowed when he realised a large percentage of the captives did not appear to be smugglers or pirates, in fact none of them looked like criminals. Most appeared frightened and huddled together, terrified of what their end might be. He could not blame them because most were non-human and if even half of what the Rebellion believed about Palpatine's segregation policy was true, they were all headed for very uncertain fates.  

"Their deflector shield is down." Buck estimated. 

"How?" Josiah asked. "The bombardment earlier was not enough to do that." The senator sat up in his bunk, his head still aching from that one action.  

"I don’t know," Buck admitted. "But their shield is down. We’re starting to see structural damage. Before, it was mostly concussion shockwaves but this is different. This is impact." 

"You think the Alliance is attacking them?" JD inquired, trying not to hope there could be a rescue on the way.  

Buck exchanged glances with Josiah who was more equipped to answer that question than he. "Its possible," the man volunteered after a moment’s thought. "But unlikely. You and I both know unless the shield can be deactivated, there was not a chance of any attack succeeding."  

"I know," Buck agreed but his confusion did not clear as the explosions continued, each more violent than the last. The energy field keeping them sealed inside the cells flickered for an instant, which indicated the ferocity of the bombardment, for there were usually all kinds of backup system to ensure this type of failure did not occur. "But their deflector shield is down and it only takes a minute or two to get it back up. If they haven’t yet, its because they can’t." 

* * *

Chris and Vin were making good time. 

When they had first landed on the surface of the moon, they were hindered by the thick environmental suits they were forced to wear to traverse the hostile terrain. The alarms and signals they had assumed would be sounded, did activate but the duo were able to get past the sensors in time for it to right itself a short time later. They entered the perimeter of the base and quickly found their way to the sewerage hatch in question, glad to remain in their environment suits for this particular leg of the journey. The sewerage hatch which was mostly for the purpose of maintenance had very little security attached to it, mostly because the Empire believed interlopers inside the complex would have been detected long before they reached this point. 

Lowering themselves into the stygian darkness, the suits protected them from the wafting scent of saw sewerage and dank water. They dropped into the depth, feeling murky fluid swirl around their legs among other materials that neither chose to pay very close attention to. The compartment was a two metre high corridor that ran throughout the length of the base. Filled with almost waist deep water, it was here the recycling systems and filtration processes took place. Most of the time it was unmanned, requiring a technician to occasionally monitor and maintain the system. As they waded through the water towards the exit hatch bringing them to the detention block, they saw vermin scampering along the narrow ledges that paused long enough to wonder what Chris and Vin were before continuing on their way. Fortunately, that was all the attention they so far garnered from the base’s occupants until the bombing became a more pressing concern. 

At first, it did not bother either Chris or Vin about the erupting noises above their heads. It was all apart of Mary’s plan to provide a distraction. It was loud but not very threatening. It warranted little more that a few extra ripples in the water to their surroundings and was allowing them to continue onward unimpeded. However when the blast increased in intensity, becoming so loud that the vermin were  _actually_  scattering and suddenly the ripples stopped being far and few. The pieces of garbage on the surface of the water started to toss and turn on bursts of choppy water and pipes began to burst while elsewhere, other signs of weakening began to show. 

"I thought they couldn’t get through the deflector shield." Vin looked at Chris as they hastened their pace. The exit hatch was not far now and they were making good time with the added motivation that the ceiling might come down on them if they did not escape this place soon. 

"They shouldn’t be able to." Chris answered automatically but there was no doubt that the base itself was being assaulted, not the space above it. "Somehow the deflector shield has been lowered." 

"Hope Mary remembers we’re down here." Vin remarked. "It’s going to be hard taking off if the hangar gets blown up." 

"True." Chris agreed and was about to add something further when he noted rungs leading to the exit hatch on the nearby wall. "There it is." He pointed at the series of rungs leading to a hatch on the ceiling. A lever under glass was fixed next to the ladder, most likely the door panel Chris decided. They were upon it in mere seconds and Chris could not deny he was glad to leave these grimy surroundings behind him and shed himself of the environmental suit that was so cumbersome despite its usefulness in the earlier leg of their rescue mission. 

As Vin quickly climbed up the ladder, eager to escape the sewerage conduit, Chris sensed something that gave him pause. There was a tremor in the Force that was more than just the heavy shelling the base was being subjected to. It came from the mirrored reflection of reality where the Force was it its strongest and for a moment, Chris searched through the mists to see what it was trying to tell him. Overhead, Vin had already forced down the lever of the maintenance hatch. Hydraulic systems kicked into being as the hiss of gases preceded the hatch lifting open. 

"Vin, wait." Chris opened his mouth to warn him but it was too late, the bounty hunter was already moving. 

Vin heard Chris’s call to stop  when his own senses kicked in and the first thing he did when he emerged from the newly opened well was to go for his gun. He swung into firing position in one swift movement, capturing the person waiting there by surprise despite the fact he was expected. For a second, neither man said a word as Vin found himself facing an Imperial captain. Both were locked in a stalemate and they knew it for neither could fire without killing each other.  

"We’ve got trouble." Vin remarked redundantly as Chris emerged from the hatchway himself.  

"No kidding." Chris said dourly as he took stock of their surroundings.  

They emerged into a maintenance room and were surrounded by machinery that owed its existence to the sewerage system they just used to penetrate the base. The room was in a shambles, with tools scattering the floor and the evidence of structural ruptures throughout the walls and ceiling. Support beams and open conduits wires were dangling precariously in the air, having broken free under the barrage of fire from the enemy warship.  

The captain was alone which struck Vin as somewhat odd when he finally took time to pay attention. He would have expected that an entire complement of storm troopers would be the wisest course of action to deal with two rebel infiltrators. 

"You’re not going to shoot us." Chris said casually as the Jedi began to remove his environmental suit.  

"You gonna help me here?" Vin asked, somewhat surprised by the nonchalance of the Chris's behaviour. He was not at all acting like someone who had a gun pointed at him by an enemy. 

"You don’t need it." Chris replied turning to the captain. "Does he?" 

Ezra stared at this man with the dark clothes, feeling somewhat taken back because he could usually judge a person from a glance and this stranger with the sombre expression unlike his excitable companion was damn near unreadable. He stared into those penetrating eyes and could not for the life of him, understand this feeling of invasion that overcame him. It was disconcerting because Ezra could tell immediately, this man knew what he was thinking.

"No." Ezra shook his head and lowered his gun. "He does not."  

"You knew we were coming." Vin stated sliding his gun back into its holster and began gingerly removing his suit, prepared at a second’s notice to fire if this détente should suddenly crumble. 

"It was not difficult to ascertain the effort of bombarding our deflector shield could only be a divisionary tactic." Ezra responded. "If not for the fact my commanding officer is a moron who chose to send our fighters to engage yours, necessitating the need to lower our deflector shield and give your warship license to disable it permanently, I would not be standing here alone." 

"So what do you want?" Vin asked, wondering how the man managed to talk so much without drawing breath. 

"He wants to help his friend." Chris answered before he could. "He want to help Nathan get out." 

Ezra tried not to show he was shaken by the stranger’s revelation of his intention but he was. "Pray tell Sir, how you knew that before I had a chance to verbalise it?"

"He’s  Jedi." Vin retorted. "You want to help us get to Nathan? Then we’d better get moving." The bounty hunter said abruptly. "We don’t have much time." 

"A Jedi Knight?" Ezra’s eyes widened and then realised the man named Chris could be nothing else. The dark robes, the faint outline of what he had thought to be a torch or something hanging from his belt, now evolved into a light sabre and his ability to see into Ezra’s mind and know what his heart was intending, confirmed that fact. "I did not think there were any of you left." 

"There are a few," Chris said quietly. "You care for Nathan a great deal." It was not a question but rather a statement. 

Ezra swallowed. "I do not have many friends and even less that I trust my life with. When Nathan lost his wife, I thought his hatred of the Empire would pass but in truth I supposed I was deluding myself. I knew Palpatine ordered the killings but I could not admit to myself or to him which only drove him further away. Perhaps if I had understood then, he would not be in this position now." 

Chris was surprised. He never knew that about Nathan even though he met the soldier once or twice during his time on Cordoba. The man seemed at peace and Chris felt immediately ashamed Nathan had chosen to salve his wounded soul by taking up a cause worth fighting for instead of disintegrating into a bottle as Chris had allowed himself to do. "We can trust him."

"Chris, I don’t know..." Vin started to protest. 

"I trusted you Vin," Chris met his gaze. "And I trust him." 

Ezra did not know what to say which was rather surprising for him because he could not recollect a time when he had found himself in a situation where he had no glib remarks to make. He chose instead to get moving and immediately gestured for the duo to follow him. The Jedi was content to remain in his own clothes but the other had opened his pack and revealed what appeared to be the armour of a storm trooper. It was a good precaution, Ezra decided and assumed as he began to slip the armour plating over his body it was also how they planned to infiltrate the detention block.  

"You got a name Captain?" Vin asked when he finally slipped the helmet over his face.  

"Ezra Standish." He replied as they stepped out of the maintenance room into the rest of the base.  

Outside it was every bit as chaotic as one would expect from a military installation being heavily bombarded by artillery fire, even if the source of it was orbittal. There was debris on the smooth black floor and more and more of the structure was starting to crumble from the pummelling it was enduring. Personnel were running about frantically, carrying out their individual orders to fight off the threat they were facing while at the same time avoid being hit by falling breakage.

"Vin Tanner." Vin introduced himself. "That’s Chris Larabee." He added, knowing Chris would not. Although Vin still felt a little unsure about this captain and his desire to help them, he did know Chris trusted Ezra and Chris was certainly right about such things. Chris had been correct about trusting him so who was Vin to say he might be wrong about Ezra? Besides, Ezra keeping their presence hidden from the rest of his Imperial cohorts  was an act of sedition that could land the man in front of a firing squad.  

"Please to meet you." Ezra remarked as they made their way through the corridor. With Ezra walking ahead and Vin taking position behind Chris with his rifle drawn, it appeared as if the two Imperial soldiers were taking charge of a prisoner and hardly raised a brow of suspicion when they advanced towards the detention block. "Are you both members of the Alliance as well?" He asked quietly. He could believe that of the Jedi but the younger man did not appear the type. In fact, he looked a lot like a mercenary. 

"No." Chris said coolly, unaffected by the disarray taking place around him. "A friend of mine was captured trying to get to Nathan." 

"It was a trap." Ezra informed them. "We were trying to capture Mary Travis." 

"She guessed." Vin admitted, remembering what Mary said about the failed rescue attempt in retrospect. Part of the reason she sanctioned this latest rescue was mostly because she felt responsible for placing Buck, Josiah and JD in the first place.

"She is a smarter commander than the one I have the misfortune of presently serving." Ezra retorted. He had told Nabb if he could not deter the Colonel from his foolish actions in lowering the deflector shield then he would join the TIE fighter squadrons instead. Ezra had logged enough flight time to be proficient enough for that ruse to work. Nabb who did not want Ezra to be present when it became clear he made a grievous error about the deflector shield was more than happy to see him go. Considering what Ezra planned to do, he had decided an alibi was required. 

However, how this would affect him when it was all said and done was another thing entirely. Ezra had rolled the dice on his future by choosing a side. Even though he was sacrificing his career and possibly his life to save Nathan Jackson, Ezra Standish still did not know if he had what it took to be a rebel.  

* * *

The battle was going well.

With the lowering of the deflector shield, the worst case scenario Ezra Standish predicted when he attempted to convince Nabb not to engage the rebels directly, unfolded with shocking accuracy. Once the shield generator was located and destroyed, the deflector shield disappeared and gave the X-wings in the air a new target to focus their firepower. The _Purgatory_ also took advantage of the situation as Mary ordered the warship closer towards the lunar companion of  Doldur 3. The Imperials made a valiant effort to retaliate, having launched as many of their TIE fighters as possible. However Mary had expected that as this and met those ships with a phalanx of X-wing fighters.

However as she remained on the bridge of her ship, directing her fighters to what could possibly be the first military victory gained by the Rebel Alliance against the Empire, it was not of the battle that preoccupied her most. She found herself instinctively drifting towards the image of the base where the rescue mission precipitating this entire attack in the first place, was currently being undertaken. Despite herself, Mary knew what it was drawing her to that operation console involuntarily. It was Chris Larabee. The man touched something inside of her, something that recognised the sadness she saw in his eyes all too well. 

They both lost their loved ones at almost the same time. Her beloved Stephen died not long before his family was marked for destruction by Palpatine in his war against the Jedi. She still grieved for Stephen and everything that brought her to this point in time, was guided by it. It was worse for him though, she empathised, for not only had he lost a wife but also a child and the only thing that kept hope alive for Mary was the belief what she was doing would some day provide Billy with a better future. Chris Larabee did not even have  _that_  to comfort him. Even though she had no reason to feel it, Mary felt guilty for forcing him to take up her cause especially if it got him killed. Yet there was also a part of her that believed he could begin healing if he had something to fight for again. She did not know if freedom was a good enough reason but she was determined not to let him give up on himself.  

"Commander." Chano suddenly called out. There was a measure of anxiety in his voice that did not match the victory they were promised in this battle. It immediately forced away her personal predilections and returned her mind swiftly to the moment.  

"What is it?" Mary swung around in her chair and found him staring over the shoulder of the Ithorian sensor officer, their faces a glow from the reflection of the screen they were observing closely. 

"We’re detecting a massive power surge, localised off our starboard bow."

Mary’s eyes immediately shifted to the viewer to see what it was they were talking about when suddenly, the stars seemed to contract around that area of space and the all too familiar form began taking shape around it. The Star Destroyer that soon occupied the space was almost twice as large as the warship _Purgatory_. Its ability to block out the stars was almost prophetic and when it soared into motion again after its unexpected arrival, Mary guessed it course immediately. It was coming straight at them. 

"I think we’re in trouble." 


	12. Jedi Knight

While their journey to the detention block progressed without incident, Chris held no such illusions about how it would be when they finally reached the central control, where security systems and sentries were stationed to safe guards the prisoners incarcerated. Fortunately, with Ezra Standish in their party, there were very little questions raised by the personnel they encountered as they made their way through the corridors of the base. However, Chris could not deny he and Vin were more than a litte concerned when the bombardment by the X-wings halted suddenly. Unfortunately, they were in no position to investigate, nor did they have any way of communicating with the _Purgatory_ to find what had changed.  

Still, the damage done to the installation was significant as evidenced by the debris and rubble left behind. Maintenance crews were working in almost every corridor, repairing everything from structural damage to internal wiring. Fire crews were extinguishing flames erupting as a result of the damage while clean up crews worked to remove the wreckage left across the dark floors. The station was still on alert as periodic announcements from the powers kept them informed, without going into the specifics of the battle itself. Chris tended to believe the silence regarding their status was mostly due to the Imperials having no good news to report.  

"Let me do the talking." Ezra instructed as they approached the doors leading to the detention block.

Chris noticed there was very little damage in this sector of the base and attributed it to the fact the detention block was meant to be well fortified with reinforcements everywher, to keep its charges secured from any attempts at escape.  

"Be my guest," Chris said coolly. "I don’t think its going to matter much though. Once you try to get Buck and the others out, they’re gonna know."

Ezra knew this too but he preferred to be a little optimistic about things, even if it there was no chance of his complicity being hidden once the deed was done. He questioned his choices yet again but then told himself Nathan was his friend and there were some bonds that transcended duty and this was one of them. "Allow me my delusions."

"How long have you and Jackson been friends?" Vin asked, sympathising with Ezra more than the captain knew. Vin himself had been placed in an odd situation of late, where he was forced to make a choice and still did not know if it was the right one. All he had to guide him was a feeling and while it was overwhelming enough at the time to broke no explanation, in the cold light of day, Vin too questioned the rationale of what led him to this moment.

"Since our Academy days." Ezra answered automatically. "He was the first person I met there and we shared a billet for four years." 

"That long," Vin nodded in understanding. 

"Yes," Ezra answered quietly, not wishing to discuss this with strangers but for some reason, he found he could trust these men, even if he did not know why. Was it perhaps some hereto unknown Jedi mind trick? Ezra supposed he would not know for certain until it was all said and done and decided not to debate the question too deeply until then. "I had not seen him since his wife’s funeral." Ezra continued speaking. "I had heard he joined the Rebels but I did not want to believe it."

"What happened to his wife?" Vin inquired from behind his stormtrooper’s helmet, which he abhorred because the thing was hot and restrictive and made him swelter under it.  

"Her father was a Jedi." Ezra explained as the large doors appeared at the end of the corridor. "She was killed in the purges."

Chris said nothing but felt a wave of sorrow for Nathan and shame for himself. Once again, he was reminded of his pathetic behaviour since Sarah died and knew all the recrimination would not change the fact, for a year, he had dishonoured her memory by wallowing in self-pity. Nathan endured the same horror for the same reasons and though the man did not lose a child as Chris had, there was no comparison when it came to mourning a hurt. One life against two did not matter; it all felt just as terrible. 

"Quiet." He ordered as they approached the doors, their feet making an echoing sound against the steel floor. 

Ezra took a deep breath and Vin went very silent next to him. Chris noted the bounty hunter’s hand tightening around the rifle as they came up to the large doorway. Ezra glanced at them briefly and then faced front again. "Remember," he instructed one final time. "Let me do the talking."  

"The floor's yours." Vin whispered, feeling his stomach knot into a tight ball as the play was set into motion.  

Ezra did not react, merely reaching for the access panel and activating the doors. The inches thick steel doors slid open immediately upon touch, making a soft grating noise as they parted. The room it gave them entry to was large, flanked on either side by what looked like a preliminary holding area for prisoners as they were waiting to be processed. It tapered into a narrow length of passageway, which housed the maximum-security cells. At the moment the holding cells were full and Chris immediately caught sight of Buck and the others languishing in one at the far end of the room. The pilot’s astonishment was apparent but Buck showed no sign he recognised Chris after that initial sighting. 

The lieutenant was in charge of three storm troopers in the room stood up from his workstation when Ezra arrived. 

"Captain." He immediately offered the proper salute and then cast his eyes towards Chris. "What’s going on?"  

"We have captured one of the rebels," Ezra responded glancing in Chris’ direction. "He is to remained incarcerated until the crisis has passed and he can be properly interrogated by Colonel Nabb." 

"We weren’t notified of anything," the young man countered. His eyes started to narrow and Ezra could tell immediately he was one of those ambitious types that needed everything in triplicate and would not hesitate to bring anything odd to the proper authorities if it meant he could be seen in a complimentary light. "I’ll need to authorise this with command." 

"You don’t need to authorise anything." Chris spoke suddenly. His voice was unusually calm, with something on an ethereal quality to it. 

The lieutenant merely stared back at Chris for an instant, their gazes locked and his face draining into a decidedly vacant look. "I don’t need to authorise anything." 

The trio of storm troopers in the room witnessed the exchange and knew something was wrong if not what. They reacted predictably, going for their guns. Vin saw the first one raising the rifle and immediately swung into action, firing with more speed than his opponent was capable. He dropped to his knees as the bolt of energy flew at his direction but the one he fired struck its target first, hitting the storm trooper with enough force to sweep him off his feet and against the floor. A bolt of energy flew past the bounty hunter that saw the other storm trooper firing in his direction. The bounty hunter dove behind the control station for cover and saw the beam of energy strike the ground. The heat of it melted the floor leaving a charred mess on the surface. Vin did not give him a second chance to fire and took aim once more.  

Ezra had hoped it would not come to this but supposed from the moment he chose to aid Nathan’s escape, there was no avoiding it. He pulled his own blaster out of its holster as the firing began and shot the trooper nearest to him just as Vin killed the last storm trooper in the room. When Ezra fired his weapon and saw the storm trooper, a man previously under his command, spasm in pain as a bolt of energy tore through his armour and fried his heart from within, he knew there was no turning back. For a few seconds, he merely stood there with the blaster hanging limply from his hand, thoughts racing with all kinds of confusion and anger at the choice he was force to make.

The shooting had returned the lieutenant to his senses and his reaction was almost immediate. With speed that impressed even a Jedi, his hand flew towards a red button on the console and slammed his palm hard against it. The alert klaxons screamed throughout the complex and immediately brought any end to this being a covert operation. He turned to Chris almost triumphantly and could not understand why the man was not making any move towards him until he felt fingers around his throat. Chris did not intend to waste time with any slow process of strangulation and snapped the man’s neck without having to lay a finger on him. He tumbled to the floor wordlessly. 

"Damn!" Ezra swore loudly as the alert screamed throughout the base and was sure to bring every storm trooper available in this direction.

"You don’t have much time." Chris turned to Ezra, "go get Nathan."  

Ezra nodded and noted Vin was already making tracks to the end of the corridor where Buck, JD and Josiah were presently being held. The trio were already on their feet, having witnessed the impossible events unfolding before them. The other prisoners were also focussed on Chris at this point. They had seen what he had done and were quickly equating the evidence to a Jedi being in their midst. Chris turned to the control panel and studied it quickly, finding the controls to the door so he could seal the room from the inside. Upon doing so, he noticed the monitoring camera’s attached to strategic areas of the room and decided that they had to go. Their advantage was gone but they need not give the enemy any more help than they already had. Requiring very little control, Chris glanced at the devices and yanked all them from the walls at the same time. It surprised him how easily the Force flowed through him now he was ready to use it again. The devices ripped themselves from the metal framework, trailing wires and sparks as they slammed onto the floor with a resounding crash. 

The prisoners were starting to chant;  _Jedi, Jedi, Jedi._

And for the first time in too long, Chris felt like one.

* * *

Ezra hurried up the smaller passageway. Maximum-security prisoners were kept here, far away from the holding cells where the lesser prisoners were kept. Nabb had somewhat forgotten about the rebel captain since the arrival of the three new prisoners and Ezra was grateful he supposedNabb had not escalated Nathan’s treatment to interrogation. Upon reaching the door, he keyed in his security code, aware this was conclusive proof of his treason but deciding he had come too far to worry about that now. The door slid open and Ezra descended down the steps to find Nathan on his bunk, looking worried and confused about all the noise.

"Ezra?" Nathan exclaimed genuinely surprised by the appearance of his old friend "What’s going on? It sounds like all hell is breaking loose out there? Are you under attack?" He had heard the bombardment even through the thick walls of his cell and wondered who would be bold enough to attack an Imperial base.  

"Just a little diversionary tactic provided by your rebel comrades." Ezra declared. "We have to go, now." He gestured Nathan to follow and handed him the blaster he relieved from one of the dead storm troopers..  

"A rebel attack?" Nathan muttered, still somewhat shocked but having presence of mind to follow his friend. "Ezra, are you helping me break out?" 

"Either that or this is an extremely elaborate effort of gaining attention." Ezra dead panned before hurrying out of the cell with Nathan following closely.  

* * *

Vin Tanner was also encountering similar incredulity from Buck Wilmington when he pulled off his helmet and tossed it aside upon reaching the cell occupied by the pilot and the rest of his companions.

"You’re the bounty hunter!" JD declared as he revealed himself to them.  

"No kidding." Vin muttered and faced the control panel maintaining the energy field keeping them trapped in their cells. "Stand back, all of you!" He ordered, uncertain of how the device was going to behave after he did what he was about to. 

"Change of heart?" Buck asked sceptically as he took a step back from the energy field.  

"Something like that," Vin answered as he raised the rifle and prepared to fire. "You know how Jedis can be." He met Buck’s gaze for a brief instance before pulling the trigger.

 _So that was it_ , Buck thought to himself as the bolt of blue energy struck the control panel and disintegrated it into a mess of twisted and burning metal. The energy field keeping them prisoners, shimmered slightly before deactivating completely. When it was completely evaporated, Buck and the others were more than eager to hurry out. JD was helping Josiah who was still a little weak after suffering Nabb's tortures.  

"We have to free them too." Buck gestured to the other prisoners in their cells.  

"One thing at a time." Vin retorted and turned to move when suddenly, they heard a low whine throughout the room. It took him but an instant to register what it was before he was shouting at Chris who was still at the centre of the room.  

"CHRIS!" He shouted on top of his lung. "They’re trying to blow the door!"  

No sooner, than he said those words, the main door exploded outward. A ball of fire threw everyone to the floor with Chris taking shelter behind the control panel where the lieutenant’s body still lay. Vin saw the bodies pushing through the gaping hole of shredded metal created by the explosion and was the first to notice the movement through the smoke. He scrambled to his feet and prepared to shoot when he felt an arm yanking him back into the cell as the first bolts of energy from multiple laser rifles began firing violently.

"Hey!" Vin shouted in protest as he was forced back into the cell he just liberated Buck Wilmington and company from.  

"Get some cover you stupid bastard!" Buck ordered holding him by the arm firmly. "You’re right in the open, they’ll cut you down in a second!"  

"But Chris… Vin started to say when Buck cut him off abruptly. 

"Oh, don’t worry about Chris," Buck replied glancing in the direction of the Jedi. "He’s got this." 

* * *

 

 _Jedi. Jedi. Jedi._  

Even through the explosion and the shooting, the prisoners were still chanting the word as if it were a mantra that would give them strength. Chris lay crouched beneath the control panel and saw Vin and Buck pinned in the cell at the rear of his peripheral vision. Ezra and Nathan had yet to make their appearance but unless the main doors were clear, none of them were getting out of this alive. He took a deep breath and let his thoughts settle, remembering old lessons more than happy to be surface once again and suddenly, the anger and rage bled away from him. There was only peace and then there was control. Absolute and perfect control. 

For that was the way of the Jedi. 

Chris started to rise, releasing his cloak from his shoulder and allowing the soft material to fall from his shoulders to pile at his feet. He unclasped the hook keeping the light sabre latched to his belt and felt the weapon in his palm. The metal was cool to touch and felt infinitely right in his hand. There was no switch to activate the weapon, for only novices who were not entirely certain of their power needed those. If not for Palpatine’s purge, he would have been a Jedi Master by now, elevated to the Jedi Council even though he hated the idea of being one. He always preferred to remain a knight and was grateful for it but then it was also the way of the Jedi to not crave such things. Using a minute fraction of his power, Chris activated the mechanism inside the weapon and brought the light sabre to life.  

The storm troopers shooting only saw a blur as Chris leapt out from behind the control panel and landed before them. They immediately trained their guns on him and were more than astonished to watch him deflect every shot with his light sabre. The stray shots slammed into walls and into the floor, everywhere except where it was meant to go. As they reeled in shock from what they were seeing, Chris flung his light sabre towards them in a neat arch. The blade swung forward, a kaleidoscope of colour as it spun, cutting down anything unfortunate to be in its path. Screams pierced the air as limbs and flesh was sliced apart through armour and bone. When it finished its destructive path, it clattered to the ground for a fraction of a section before Chris retrieved it. 

The light sabre flew into the air and landed neatly in the palm of the Jedi’s hand as Chris turned his attention to the doors. Concentrating deeply, he ripped apart what remained of them, forcing them to open with the power of his mind. The metal groaned and then parted smoothly, revealing a handful of astonished storm troopers who saw the destruction and could only react by raising their guns to fire. Chris outstretched his hand and three of them were swept off their feet and thrown backwards like rag dolls. They slammed hard against the floor, the squelching sound of bone snapping as they landed while the others started firing.  

Chris made a running start towards them and jumped, sailing clear across their heads and landing behind them in the corridor. The beam of his light sabre ignited in mid flight and when he landed, he swung in a neat arch and eviscerated the storm trooper closest to him. The other two began firing mindlessly now, their fear becoming so apparent, Chris allowed it to soak into his senses and nourish him. He deflected their shots easily and closed the distance between them. Swinging his light sabre once more, he completely destroyed the rifle being aimed in his direction after sending the bolt meant for him harmlessly into the opposite wall. Unarmed, the storm trooper staggered back as Chris lowered his light sabre and sent him flying. His companion prepared to shoot but Chris looked at him sharply and said with a little smile. 

"You can’t shoot me because you can’t see me." 

The trooper paused a moment, trying to understand what that meant until the power of the suggestion completed its journey through his synapses and delivered the instruction to his optic nerves. When the veil of black fell over him, he understood and started screaming. All thoughts about the Jedi he was trying to kill evaporated from his mind as the panic set in. Chris walked past the man and re-entered the detention block to be greeted by the  cheering of the prisoners who witnessed the fight. 

_Jedi. Jedi. Jedi._

It had been a long time since Chris Larabee felt that and as he looked around at the floor covered in bodies, he was saddened at the lives taken but was pleased the Force was still with him.  

Buck stepped out of the cell, a broad grin on his face as he stared at Chris and the both men met in a warm embrace.  

"Its good to have you back Chris." Buck smiled as he surveyed the evidence of Chris’s handiwork. "You haven’t lost your touch." 

Chris gazed at his friend for a few seconds and responded. "I didn't want them to hurt you Buck." 

Buck opened his mouth to speak but the words never came when JD's voice erupted. "Did you see that!" JD said exuberantly to Josiah behind them. "He took them all down on his own!"  

Vin joined the old friends and the awe on the bounty hunter’s face was unmistakable. "Not bad." He said with the barest hint of a smile. " _Scary_  as hell but not bad at all." 

"What in the hell happened here?" Nathan exclaimed as he emerged from the detention block with Ezra who was staring at the carnage with a similar degree of shock. 

"Look," Josiah spoke up suddenly. "I am certain we are all somewhat astonished by what our esteemed Jedi has done but I think we ought to save the questions until we get out of here." 

"He’s right." Vin agreed and faced Chris. "When they see this, they’re going to bring the entire base down on us. We have to get out of here now." 

Chris nodded and turned to Ezra. "Is Buck’s ship here?" 

The image of the freighter entered his mind immediately and he answered. "Yes, it is presently in landing bay 12."  

"Good," Buck retorted as the group started moving. "No way in hell am I leaving my ship." 

* * *

"All fighters, stay close to the destroyer!" Mary ordered as the  _Purgatory_  shuddered from another blast from the Imperial war machine.

They had been openly engaging the star destroyer since it emerged from hyperspace and though Mary struggled valiantly to give the vessel the fight it deserved, she had to be realistic. With the added complement of TIE fighters from the base and the destroyer bearing down on the handful of X-wing, Mary knew that the  _Purgatory_  was outclassed. The star destroyer was a more recent model which had come equipped with all the features that the _Purgatory_ had undergone refit to possess and its fire power was double that of the Nubian warship. In a protracted conflict, it had more than enough strength and endurance to wipe out her ship. 

"Commander," Chano exclaimed. "We must withdraw!"  

"We can’t withdraw!" Mary snapped, having heard this plea once already. "Chris and the others are still on the surface. We have to wait!" 

"We’ll be destroyed if we wait!" Chano retaliated. He did not want to abandon the rescue team any more than she did but he had to be sensible about this because their lives were few compared to the number on board this vessel, not to mention piloting the X-wings.  

"I know that!" Mary nearly shouted at him and then calmed herself. There had to be a way to even the odds. She looked at that massive ship now positioned directly over the base and considered what she could do. She could not let them die and a small voice inside her head laughed in derision and uttered with a cynicism. You mean let  _him_  die. 

Mary blinked and it came to her. It was a gamble but it was the only chance she had, the only trick she knew that could save them all. "All fighters, I want you take out the command deck deflector shield. I want their bridge completely defenceless!" 

Chano blinked in confusion and came to her side. "Commander, I don’t understand. Fighters won’t do much damage by taking out  _that_  shield."  

"You don’t think so?" Mary challenged and faced front when she saw a group of X-wings converging upon the desired location. The sky before them was a symphony of amber and blue light as ships exploded in space, their eruption extinguished almost immediately in the vacuum filled void. Each time those lights flared in amber, Mary felt her soul weep for the life ended when the explosion faded away.  

"Commander," J’yd announced. "The deflector shield on the command deck has been destroyed." 

"Good," Mary answered tautly and then further ordered. "Get me ship to ship communications with squadron leader King." 

Chano still did not know what she was planning but complied with the order nonetheless. "Channel open." 

Mary took a deep breath and nodded. "Audrey," Mary spoke up. "I need you to angle your ship at a vector of 23 degrees starboard and go in hot. I want thrusters on maximum burn." 

"Sir?" Squadron leader Audrey King asked with obvious confusion in her voice.  

"Do as I say." Mary ordered. "Go in hot and eject before collision. Do you understand me? Eject." 

There was a slight pause through the bursts of static in the transmission before she understood what it was that was being asked. "I got you Commander."  

Chano too understood and looked at Mary with something akin to horror and plain astonishment. The manoeuvre was utterly desperate and yet so very keeping in the tradition of the Alliance. "All fighters," the executive officer added upon realizing the plan his commander was attempting to carry out. "Ensure that Squadron Leader King’s ship reaches its destination. Give her a wide berth." 

"Deploy an emergency pod as soon as she ejects," Mary said softly after the orders were handed out. "There’s way too much shooting for her to be left floating around out there." 


	13. Evacuation

"Get back! Get back!" Vin Tanner shouted at the top of his lungs.

Behind him, a dozen storm troopers ran up the corridor in pursuit with their guns blazing. The corridors erupted with the sound of blasters being fired and stray bolts of energy flying about in all directions, ricocheting and impacting against walls. Farther along the corridor, the newly rescued Nathan Jackson was covering Vin's retreat, firing into the thickest part of the approaching group. Vin did not need to look behind him to know Nathan had killed several of the enemy troops. He could smell the scent of burning flesh and synthetics carried through the smoke of blaster discharges. Once he rounded the corner, he spun around and fired again, giving Nathan the chance to make a similar retreat. However, his one weapon was not enough to completely prevent all six or seven of them from shooting.

Chris was up ahead, keeping the way clear while Vin and Nathan took the rear guard. JD was still helping Josiah who regained something of his strength. However he was a big man and despite the youth's determination, helping him to move quickly was hard. Buck who had managed to retrieve a weapon from one of the dead storm troopers alternated between shooting and was helping JD where possible. Ezra and Chris led the group, mostly because no one knew their way around the meandering corridors leading to the landing bay better than the Imperial captain. Chris on the meantime, ensured that any opposition encountered ahead did not remain there for very long.

At the moment, there were prisoner alerts screaming throughout the entire station because Chris had released all the captives in the cell and directed them to the landing bay. With Nathan and Josiah in their company, Chris was certain the retrieval efforts would focus mostly on the rebel prisoners and allow the non-human escapees to make it to the hangar unaccosted by Imperial security. However, the reality of the situation was they simply could not save  _everyone_  no matter how much Chris might wish otherwise.

As Vin ran to safety around the corner the others had already disappeared behind with Nathan following, he could feel the heat of stray bolts impacting into every possible surface along the narrow corridor. Intense energy hit the steel plating and sent sparks and fiery embers skittering across the floor and onto his storm trooper's armor as he hurried past. The corridor was starting to fill with the smoke from the laser discharges and it was becoming increasingly harder to see. Meanwhile, Nathan was dusting away the hot embers on his sleeve before finally jumping to safety just as he heard another discharge behind him. He landed in a roll and got to his feet quickly as Vin kept firing to keep them away at least for a while.

The others had paused long enough around the corner for them to catch up. Ezra and Chris had gone ahead in order to find an alternate route to the landing bay where the  _Rogue_  was being kept. Once Nathan was on his feet, he hurried to Vin's side and added his blaster to the firefight. Surprisingly enough, the former Imperial Captain was doing quite well in cutting down the latest group of storm troopers attempting to recapture him. Their numbers had dwindled from six to two. Vin had thought an Imperial officer who spent most of the time on the bridge would not be so adept a marksman but Nathan had surprised him.

"You do much target practice on the bridge of a warship?" Vin inquired.

"Enough to show you a thing or two, bounty hunter." Nathan retorted with a little smile. He was still apprehensive about Vin Tanner being among them but a Jedi's endorsement was nothing to take lightly. Suddenly, he saw something at the corner of his eye and realised  more soldiers were behind them.

"Let's go!" He said pulling Vin's arm.

"Wait a minute!" Vin returned and took careful aim. There were two troopers left standing. While the logical thing for the remaining duo to do was wait until reinforcements came, it was conceivable they might ignore good sense and follow the prisoners. Vin was not about to let any one of his companions get shot in the back.

Vin fired twice. His aim was deadly accurate and they collapsed on the deck among the dead bodies of their former comrades. The corridor was littered with corpses and Vin tried not to remember he had caused all this carnage. He disliked killing unless he had to.  When he was a bounty hunter, he tried not to kill unnecessarily but the nature of the profession made it impossible. Still even in self-defense, it left a bad taste in his mouth.

"You're good." Buck who had dropped back to aid them remarked, staring at the bodies.

Vin swallowed and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Its what I do." 

"And well." Buck replied impressed by the marksmanship he witnessed from the bounty hunter and for the first time, understood why Chris trusted him so much with their lives.

"Which way next?" Nathan asked when Ezra returned to them.

"That way." Ezra gestured to the intersection of corridors up ahead. "We make a left turn at the junction and continue down the corridor until we arrive at the maintenance deck. It travels directly under the flight deck. At the end of the deck, there should to be a stairway leading us directly to the landing bays."

"You know where my ship is kept?" Buck asked, not at all prepared to leave the  _Rogue_  in this place. That ship was his pride and joy. It was as much a part of himself as a limb and he would not leave it if there was the slightest chance of retrieving it.

"I would be leading on a fool's errand if I had not." Ezra deadpanned.

"You alright Josiah?" Nathan turned to the former statesman in concern.

"I was a science officer for the Republic when you were in diapers Nate." Josiah said with dignity. "I'll manage."

"Something is happening above." Chris returned to the group and announced. "They're terrified."

"What do you mean?" Buck asked. "Terrified of what?"

"I don't know," the Jedi shook his head unable to grasp that much, only aware the emotions he sensed was one of fear. "They've forgotten about us. I think they're trying to evacuate."

"Evacuate?" Ezra asked confused. "Why would they evacuate...." Suddenly, the answer dawned upon him and he swallowed the lump in his throat. "We have to get out of here  _now_. They only evacuate if there is a danger of the entire base being destroyed."

"How?" JD exclaimed.

"I do not know," Ezra retorted as he pushed past Chris and gestured for the others to start moving. "Perhaps you may ask the hero of Jofa the next time you meet her, if we leave this place alive to put the question to her."

"The hero of what?" Vin said blankly.

"Mary." Nathan declared as he tugged at Vin's arm to follow. "He means Mary."

* * *

Ten minutes earlier, Mary found herself standing at the viewer, watching the progress of Colonel King's ship across the sky. The X-wing flanking her fighter was firing relentlessly at the surrounding TIE fighters as it burned through space on a direct heading for the star destroyer. The ship was attempting to maneuver out of the way, having sensed the danger coming at it. However, Mary ensured the  _Purgatory_  kept the large vessel from veering too far from the course she needed it to go. The offensive action was taking its toll on her ship however. The Star Destroyer was making every effort to shake off the interference from the  _Purgatory_ , firing all guns at the Nubian warship.

Even as she stood on the deck of her bridge, Mary could feel the heaving and protest of the vessel's superstructure as it was bombarded by enemy fire. She could hear the chatter of her officers on the deck, battling to keep the  _Purgatory_   together as they dealt with the numerous systems alerts that was flashing across their console screens while at the same time performing the miracles the ship needed to let Mary's plan succeed. Mary knew the ship could not take much more pounding and glanced at the viewer once more and felt a surge of relief realizing that its punishment was at an end.

"Now, Colonel." Mary barked out loud because Colonel King was listening for the order. "Eject!"

"Yes Sir." Came the cackling reply of static before a loud roar filled the air. It ripped through the stillness of the bridge, like a gust of wind escaping and Mary knew immediately it was the sound of the canopy being discarded and the pilot ejecting from inside the cockpit. She could not see the Colonel's body in the viewer but hoped the emergency pod was on its way toward retrieving the woman.

"What about her ship?" Mary demanded of her executive officer.

"On its way to the target," Chano answered as he kept his eyes trained on the scanner, watching the progress of the X-wing as it continued its trajectory towards the destroyer. The great ship was attempting to veer out of the way but Mary had timed the maneuver in this way in order to take that chance away from the enemy. Forcing the X-wing to use maximum burn to close in on the Imperial war machine prevented any TIE fighters from shooting her down before she reached her destination. Chano had been correct when he claimed that no fighter would be able to inflict much damage on the bridge of the Destroyer, even if its deflector shield in that area was disabled.

However, crashing into the bridge without any protection was another matter entirely.

The X wing fighter, abandoned and pilotless sailed forward in a neat line through the zig zag of blasts from enemy sips trying to halt is advance, carried to its destiny by auto-pilot and forward inertia, could now be seen by the bridge crew of the destroyer. The officers on the deck started running for safety even though in their frantic minds, they knew that once the impact was made, there would be no safe place to hide. A few held their ground, choosing to meet the end with dignity and there were the screams as the X- wing loomed large in the wide window of the command deck.

"Evasive action!" Some one who still had presence of mind screamed loudly but it was too late.

From the bridge of her ship, Mary saw the explosion as the X-wing collided with the star destroyer. The explosion was not large in comparison to those, which might signal the destruction of such a massive ship, but it was more than enough for her purposes. Mary saw the spidery webs of energy crackling and amber heat dispersed throughout the command deck and sent debris, some of which were bodies floating out into space. The effect of the action was almost immediate on the vessel's trajectory. The destroyer began to dip at the nose, the gravitational field of the moon capturing it almost immediately and forced it to begin drifting aimlessly towards the lunar surface.

Cheers erupted throughout the bridge of the  _Purgatory_  as the gamble Mary took came to fruition. The destroyer was spiralling out of control towards the moon. No one noticed Mary's expression as she saw the trajectory the ship was headed and knew exaclty where it would crash when it arrived on the moon.

"Oh no," she uttered with a strangled whisper. "Chris."

* * *

The landing bay was in pandemonium when they arrived at the hangar where the Rogue was berthed. The evacuation process was well on the way with personnel running back and forth across the deck, trying to reach ships in order to make their escape from the  impending calamity. Technicians were hastily preparing fighters for launch, while transport vehicles and shuttles began soaring out of the hangar at rapid pace. The _Rogue_ was relatively untouched when the seven arrived inside the berth. Buck in particular, was euphoric to see his ship in one piece.

"Oh baby, am I glad to see you again!" He gushed as he ran towards the hatch and activated the ramp. Buck had never been so happy to see the Corsair in all his life and was eternally grateful that they had left his prized possession in one piece.

"Enough with the reunion!" Chris barked more than accustomed to Buck's passionate reunion with his ships and frankly was in little mood to endure another bout of affection at this time. "Something's coming at us and its coming at us fast!"

"Can you tell what it is?" Vin asked, he did not know what the possible danger was but judging the way emergency klaxons were screaming and electronic voices over the speakers were telling everyone to evacuate, Vin supposed it was urgent indeed. The pandemonium of running feet and terrified expressions confirmed that if nothing else.

"No," Chris shook his head, unable to sort out through the noise of panic and fear running rife through his senses. He had to shield himself from it because the volume of terror was so palpable it nearly blinded him with its intensity.

"Nathan," Ezra said suddenly. "This is where we go our separate ways."

Nathan, who was taking strides towards the _Rogue_ , stopped dead in his tracks and turned around slowly. "What do you mean?" He stared at his old friend who was holding position and did not appear to have any intention of boarding the freighter with them. "You can't go back, they'll kill you." Nathan exclaimed with genuine fear. When Ezra had helped him escape, Nathan had been euphoric at the notion that at last his friend understood what it was he was fighting for. The disappointment of learning other wise stung him intensely.

"I am not ready to be a rebel yet, Nathan." Ezra confessed with utter sincerity. "My life is the way I like it and while I did not wish to see you harmed, I am not prepared to join you either."

"Ezra don't be a fool." Vin found himself adding. If Chris trusted this man, then his life could not simply be wasted by such a foolish act. Besides, Ezra had led them here despite of the danger to himself and had been instrumental in their escape, he was someone Vin would trust in any fight. "Your access code got us into that detention block, they'll know you were responsible for us getting away."

"Maybe," Ezra retorted, not about to deny that but not about to give up everything he worked for either. "But I am willing to chance I may explain my way out of this."

By now, Buck had activated the ramp of the  _Rogue_  which extended outwards at the same time the hatch slid open and waited for them to board. Buck took a step onto the walkway and glanced over his shoulder at his friends. "Look, I don't mean to be rude but we need to move our asses if we're gonna get out of here."

"You heard Mr Wilmington." Ezra replied turning to Nathan with the most genuine expression of affection the man was capable of displaying on his usually mercurial face. "You need to go, now."

"What about you?" Chris asked quietly. He did not like the idea of Ezra leaving them, especially when the man had helped them so invaluably to retrieve their friends and his. However, Chris also understood there was a line inside Ezra he had yet to cross and until that day, Ezra would not be ready for what the Rebel Alliance required of him.

"You tell me." Ezra's lips curled into a smile. "You're the Jedi."

"It's a hard life," Josiah Sanchez suddenly spoke up. "You must choose your own way Captain," the former senator said looking at Ezra with those old and wise eyes. "We will be here if you wish to join us but we understand you must make the choice yourself." With that Josiah, allowed JD to help him up the ramp, deciding there was nothing more to say.

Ezra swallowed, wondering if Josiah knew how true those words were. "Thank you," he said quietly to the back of the departing senator before remembering himself. "Nathan, get going." He ordered and started turning away.

"No," Nathan protested. "I'm not going to let you do this Ezra."

However, Vin had locked a hand around the former captain's arm and was starting to pull him up the ramp. "Come on Nathan." Vin said casting a glance in Ezra's direction. "He's made his choice."

"Its crazy!" Nathan shouted angrily. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

"Nathan," Chris asked gently. "We have to go, now."

Nathan stared at the Jedi and Chris could feel the anguish in his soul as Nathan realised Chris was right. They  _did_  have to go and Ezra  _had_  made his choice. "Alright," he nodded. "Goddamn it. Alright."

Nathan looked to Ezra, preparing to say some kind of goodbye, though he did not know what would have been appropriate for the moment but never had a chance to do.

Ezra was gone already.

* * *

It took Buck Wilmington a matter of minutes to prepare his ship for launch and blast out of the base. The  _Rogue_  became lost in the convoy of ships departing the moon hastily, attempting to put as much distance between themselves and the coming destruction, one of them being a TIE fighter that broke out of its launch bay at roughly the same time. It was only when the  _Rogue_  finally ascended into the air, did they finally realise what crisis had sent the base into complete pandemonium that the only way of escape it was a mass exodus. The star destroyer entered the atmosphere and immediately ignited. The sight was almost breathtaking in a horrifying way as the large ship streaked through the sky like a leviathan on fire. It trailed cloud of smoke as it continued on it collision course towards the surface.

The  _Rogue_  broke orbit just as the great ship impacted against the earth not far from the base. The ensuing fireball resulted in the complete disintegration of the former Imperial installation, not to mention any unfortunates who were still trapped there. A mushroom cloud rose into the air with the catastrophic impact and even as the freighter soared into the darkness of space, the evidence of destruction could be seen in the fiery surfaces of the moon, that was quickly burning out of control by the radiated winds. It was a conflagration that would not stop until the entire surface was consumed.

In space, the TIE fighters had chosen to retreat to Doldur 3, now the battle was more or less over with the morale crushing destruction of the destroyer. The fighter were returning to the safer territory on Doldur itself while X-wings returned to the _Purgatory_  keeping a vigil for all its returning heroes.

* * *

Ezra Standish saw the freighter in the distance and allowed himself a little smile knowing his friend was safe.

He did not know why he did not choose to follow Nathan when the rebel made his escape, even though Ezra knew the Empire he served was evil. Perhaps it was a last desperate effort to cling to a life he knew was slipping fast through his fingers, giving way for one that was uncertain at best. Inside the confines of the TIE fighter he commandeered to make his escape from the fiery wreck of the Doldur 3 Imperial base, Ezra suddenly felt time catching up on him and demanding he make choices.

As he watched the freighter returning to the safety of the Nubian warship, he had until now only seen in the scanner, Ezra wondered when would come the time when he bridged that space to join it as well. Mary Travis had proved she was an able commander in the field. She proved the Empire had a valid reason for wishing the return of the Hero of Jofa to their ranks. He wondered if Nabb had any idea of how he had been beaten by a mind who knew more about military tactics and battlefield ingenuity than he could ever dream of possessing. He would have liked to have met the lady in person, but supposed like everything else; he was not ready for that either.

Casting a final gaze at what might have been and what could still be, Ezra Standish turned his attention to the controls of his ship and joined the other TIE fighters on their way to Doldur.


	14. Chapter 14

Chris should not be here.

It was dangerous and after what had happened on Doldur 3, perhaps even a little foolhardy but he forced himself to journey here because it was something he had to do. After Doldur 3, Mary was more than accommodating when he asked to borrow a ship. Buck offered to take him wherever he needed to go but this was a trip he had to make alone. She presented him with an X-wing fighter for his use and Chris had the sneaking suspicion she did so because she remembered how he much he admired it. _A Jedi needs his own ship_ , she said to him and embraced him warmly when he prepared to leave, but not before asking him to return soon because they needed him.

He looked into those blue grey eyes and knew that was _not_ the reason.

Nevertheless, he accepted the ship and left the rebel base bound for Tatooine because he had a quest to make. In the last year, he allowed himself to descend into a wilderness of the soul, forgetting all he was and all he had ever been. He sullied the memory of Sarah and Adam with his self-pity and he forgot the most important thing of his life; that he was a Jedi and the Force was there to strengthen him, to heal the wounds within with him with its peace. Chris abandoned all that for a descent into despair by drowning  himself in drink. He was mortified by his behavior and hoped his actions at Doldur went some way to making amends.

The Dune Sea was an unforgiving place and those who came out here ill prepared, usually died for their mistake. It was a barren wasteland of endless dunes and craggy rock faces where dangers awaited behind every crest of sand that could kill as surely as the desert itself. Chris moved his eyes away from the image magnifier in his hands, before squinting when he felt the terrible glare of the twin sun blazing down on him. The dwelling that made up the central nucleus of the moisture farm Chris chose to observe, was constructed partially beneath ground level to take advantage of the shade created by the deepened earth. Most of the dwellings in Tatooine were built this way and the residence Chris found himself looking at from a distance was no exception.

The boy ran out of his home, no more than two years of age, giggling and laughing as children often do when they had no idea the world was a place with teeth. He ran out into the flat plain and paused a moment, looking very serious indeed for a child his age when something of particular interest captured his interest. He was staring into the cloud, pointing at a formation that shaped itself as more than cumulous in his imagination and smiled at it. Blond hair framed his small face and the blue eyes studying that cloud sparkled with hope, bringing a smile to Chris's face.

"He is his father's son." Ben Kenobi remarked as he pictured what Chris was seeing without the aid of the magnifier.

"Is that a good thing?" Chris asked as he reveled in the sight of the child and was reminded of Adam, who looked at life in just the same way once upon a time. Seeing the boy in front of him brought those memories back with a surge and he had to swallow hard to compose himself.

"Probably not but there is no denying Luke is Anakin's son." Ben sighed, remembering the things he had lived through and feeling an inordinate sense of guilt at so much being pinned on this child when he grew to manhood. Ben could feel the sadness pouring out from his old friend who was staring across the stretch of land separating them from the Lars moisture farm. "Its good to see you Chris." 

Chris turned to Ben and smiled, conceding that point as well in his expression. "Likewise Ben. It's been awhile."

"There are not many of us left." Ben said grimly, his voice soft. "I felt some of us die."

"So did I." Chris nodded somberly, having experienced the same sensation of extinguishing life himself. "We  _are_  dying out Ben. Perhaps the balance the prophecy spoke of is this. That we need to die so that things can even themselves out."

"A question for philosophers Chris," Ben answered. "Although Master Yoda would most likely be able to answer that with ease." 

"How is he?" Chris asked after uttering a soft chuckle. "Is he still taking sanctuary in Dagobah?"

"Yes," Ben nodded. "I know there are others who have gone the same way, who are trying to wait out the storm until the boy needs us."

"That may be difficult." Chris informed the Jedi Master even though he was certain Ben was well aware of these facts, if not from his own experiences then by examining Chris's thoughts. Ben Kenobi was a Jedi Master and though Chris had the strength to keep him out, the Jedi was not so on guard in the presence of his old friend. "The Emperor is hunting us down with a vengeance and killing all those who could be Jedi."

Ben glanced at Chris and saw the open wound inside his friend's soul. "Chris, I am terribly sorry about Sarah and Adam."

Chris swallowed thickly, because Jedi or not, grief affected him the same way as it did any ordinary man. Being a Jedi did not give him any concession from that pain even if it should have prepared him to handle it better. "I let myself wallow in self pity because I couldn't stand going on alone and I've realised lately, I'm only dishonoring them by living that way. Sarah wouldn't have wanted me to give up and Adam was proud his father was a Jedi, I have to remember that."

Ben placed a gentle hand on Chris's shoulder and squeezed it warmly. "Did it help coming here to see him?" The Jedi Master glanced briefly in the direction of the child who was now retreating into the house.

"Yes," Chris nodded truthfully. "I needed to remind myself there are things left that I need to do. The Rebel Alliance is young and it needs guidance and from there, I can help you in some small way. At least keep trouble from coming here or warning you if it does."

"It is appreciated." Ben replied gratefully, needing the advantage. He had accustomed himself to the hermit life when he chose to be Luke Skywalker's guardian but it was a lonely existence. "I've been keeping watch on him since the day he was born. His uncle prefers I remain at a distance to not confuse the child with uncomfortable questions as to who I might be to him."

"And his sister?" Chris turned to Ben pointedly. "Are they never to know each other?"

"For her safety, its necessary." Ben replied automatically, having discussed this issue already with the girl's foster father and then felt a wave of sadness at the  memory of Queen Amidala, or as she would always be known to him, Padme. 

Chris didn't speak, aware of the pain Ben felt at the former Queen's loss. 

Ben shrugged off the attempt because he had reconciled himself with her fate during his solitude here and continued speaking. "She cannot protect her daughter any more than I can so I would appreciate it if you kept an eye on House Organa, to ensure that the little girl is safe. Her anonymity is her greatest protection at this time but there are always unknown factors."

"You have my word," Chris agreed and then turned to Ben and said with more conviction than he felt in years. "She'll be safe."

"Thank you my friend." Ben patted him on the shoulder. "Now you must go."

Chris nodded in understanding. It was dangerous for him to be here as it was and Ben Kenobi, formerly General Obi-Wan Kenobi who fought in the Clone Wars, had been extremely tolerant in indulging Chris's need to feel some measure of hope because the Jedi Master had sensed he sorely needed it. However, by the same token, Chris also sensed Ben wanted to see him once more.

"Are we ever going to see each other again Ben?" Chris asked softly, feeling the sadness in Ben Kenobi's soul

Ben took a deep breath and replied softly. "DIfficult to tell. Your destiny lies upon a different path from mine Chris. You need to fulfil it and by no means is your time over, it is merely evolving into something else."

"I miss what we were," Chris whispered softly, allowing that vulnerability to show to the one person who would understand. "We're fading into the mists Ben, we're becoming intangible." Chris thought of the Jedi who for thousands of years had brought peace and justice to the galaxy and it wounded him people were already starting to forget.

"This one you call Vin," Ben said suddenly. "You intend to make him Jedi?"

"No," Chris shook his head automatically without even having to consider the question. "I have no wish to train Jedi and it safer for him if he does not learn our ways. I'll tell him what we were and what we tried to accomplish. Maybe that will give him some kind of peace."

"And I will do the same for Luke and maybe," Ben remarked with a bittersweet smile. "We'll exist somewhere after all."

* * *

Ezra Standish found himself staring at Commander Colonel Tarkin and wondered if the man expected him to flinch. He did not.

Ever the consummate actor, Ezra sat in front of the sprawling desk of the Colonel in charge of sifting through the mess that had taken place on Doldur 3, appearing relatively unconcerned. An inquiry and an investigation had followed the incident. olonel Nabb was presently occupying a cell not unlike the one he placed Buck Wilmington while the powers that be considered his fate. There was a time when the worst punishment meted out to officers who acted questionably was merely discharge but the Empire had a more extreme reaction to such behavior and Ezra did not envy Nabb's position. Unfortunately, Ezra did not know if he himself would not be occupying a cell himself after what he had done to aid Nathan's escape.

Tarkin's office was situated in one of the loftier parts of the large complex that acted as the military center of the Imperial fleet. The large picture window gave him a spectacular view of Coruscant Centre and Ezra soaked up the picturesque imagery in order to calm himself for the play he had to perform for Colonel Tarkin. Hawk like, the man watched him with dark eyes, trying to ferret out weakness. Ezra knew of Tarkin by reputation of course, anyone who kept abreast of things did. Tarkin was being fast tracked to becoming a Grand Moff because he was one of the Emperor's favored. While some may think this had more to do with luck than it did skill and ambition, they would be wrong. Tarkin had reached the place of power he occupied because he was shrewd and as his eyes studied Ezra Standish like a puzzle to be dismantled to be understood, Ezra knew he had to extremely careful during this interview between them.

"What do you think of Colonel Nabb?" Tarkin asked coolly.

"Is this a candid discussion?" Ezra returned his gaze and knew he had to hold it. Tarkin's manner told him that maintaining eye contact was a method in which the Colonel gauged weakness.

"Of course." Tarkin replied with a little smile. "Perfectly candid."

"The man is a fool." Ezra said with enough vitriol in his voice to indicate how personally he felt in the manner. "He is ambitious but has none of the ability. He is a brutaliser and more at use as a thug instead of command."

"Yes," the colonel nodded, his own assessment of Nabb no too dissimilar. "I tend to agree with you."

Ezra did not show that he was relieved. "That is gratifying to know."

"The reports of several officers on the deck claim you openly stood up to the Colonel, attempting to keep him from lowering the deflector shield."

"In my opinion, it was a foolish act." Ezra answered truthfully in this instance. "The rebel bombardment, though annoying at the time, did not offer us any real threat. Our deflector shield was more than capable of protecting us. We could have simply waited for help to arrive and take care of the Nubian warship when it did. Lowering the shield left us wide open. It was tactically irresponsible."

"Yes," Tarkin answered. "It would appear most of the bridge staff who escaped the station seemed to agree with you but that did not prevent Nabb from attempting to charge you with insurbordination."

"I had to speak my mind." Ezra replied, unashamed. "He compromised the station because he panicked."

"You are correct of course." Tarkin agreed and then picked up some data pads and studied it. "Well I find your actions were remiss of any misconduct, Captain Standish. You did attempt to prevent this fiasco from taking place and since the station was vaporised, we must rely on the word of the officers present to gauge what happened down there. I have taken statements from your comrades who assured me you are to be exonerated in any complicity in the destruction of our base. The rebels' plan to free their prisoners would not have succeeded if the deflector shield was maintained. As it is, we not only lost a ship of the line but our base and some very important prisoners, I understand."

"Yes Sir," Ezra nodded automatically. "Nathan Jackson was a member of the Rebel Alliance."

"You know him." Tarkin declared, with a hint of something in his voice that could be innuendo, if not out right accusation.

"I  _knew_  him." Ezra served back with just as much iciness, emphasizing the word 'knew'.

"I see," Tarkin nodded, accepting Ezra's demeanour as his true feelings on the matter and picked up another data pad and studied it a moment. "Now I see here you have requested transfer to Cordoba. May I ask why?"

Ezra paused a moment, rehearsing the speech he concocted long before this meeting. "I want to find Nathan Jackson. I want to find him and bring him in. He has complicated my existence because he chose to become a traitor. Unless I bring him in, our friendship will be a blight on my military record I shall never be able to expunge while he is still at large. For as long as I try to rise through the ranks, the stigma of always being associated with him will accompany me. I wish to bring him in to settle all doubts."

"An admirable desire." Tarkin said with a little smile. "What makes you certain that he is in Cordoba."

"I am told he may be with a rebel cell that exists in the Territory." Ezra responded. "As you know, the Territory is largely uncharted and sits on the border of the galactic rim, there are many enclaves where the rebels may chose to hide. If I take command of the Cordoba base, I may be able to make a detailed search, as well as giving us some valuable information about the area in the process."

"Do not underestimate Mary Travis," Tarkin warned, approving of Ezra's decision and of the transfer as well. "She destroyed our base and our star destroyer, through no mean feat. That kind of ingenuity is formidable."

"I'm aware of that Sir." Ezra replied. "But these things hinge largely on luck and I have been told on occasion that Lady Luck and I are on intimate terms."

* * *

The tavern was quiet tonight but it was just as well. Even though the search for the rebel fugitives was called off for the moment following the destruction of the Doldur base, it was not wise for them to be on Cordoba for too long. Still a private celebration of some sort seemed the order of the day and Inez was more than happy to host it. Those who frequented the establishment knew it was not a place paid close attention to and truth be known, those who would be a danger to them preferred more lively taverns than this, were the opportunity to spy was better accommodated by a large volume of patrons. In truth, the group seated at the table in the center of the room had no intention of spending the entire evening here. They had come for their celebration and would return to the safety of the rebel base when it was over.

Chris Larabee had returned mostly to collect the belongings left in the room he occupied upstairs for the past year. Inez was sad to see him go but he could tell when she was inordinately pleased to know why. Chris had kissed her on the brow and thanked her for everything, for taking care of him when most would have left him to rot. Inez and Chris went back a long way and it was good to know not all his friends were gone, just waiting for him to remember them again. As he sat around the table, watching the sudden influx of new additions to his life, he felt a sense of peace he had not felt in a long time. The pain of Sarah and Adam's death was still with him, he felt it rubbing raw against his heart each time the memory surfaced and it surfaced a great deal. However, for the first time in too long, Chris understood that was how it was meant to be and with the Force as his ally, he could weather it a little better.

"Damn it." Nathan swore at Buck as he dropped his cards onto the table where they were engaging in a game of sabbacc. "I'm sure you cheat. No way you could win all those games on skill alone."

"Hey," Buck protested in mock hurt as he reached over the table and collected the pot. "I learned to get good. You have to when you're used to playing with a Jedi." 

"Trust me," Chris drawled over his mug of beer. "I don't need the Force to beat you at sabbaac, right Inez?" Chris looked over his shoulder at the shapely bartender approaching with another round of drinks for the group.

"That's right," she arrived at the table and gave Buck a little wink. "If you want to know whether Buck is bluffing, just watch his upper lip twitching under his moustache."

"Inez!" Buck exclaimed as the table exploded into a roar of laughter. "That's confidential! You're giving me away!"

"And pray tell how do you know this so well?" Mary asked giving the lady a look as she posed the question. Mary and Inez had become fast friends since their meeting and when the men had chosen to make this trip, Mary accompanied them so she could catch up with the woman.  After all, Mary had very few female friends and it felt good to be around someone who did not regard her as any more than just another woman, instead of a military commander.

"Well..," Inez started to flinch uncomfortably and suddenly everyone at the table noticed neither Buck nor Inez could meet each other's gaze.

"Don't tell me that you and Buck..." JD exclaimed in astonishment.

"Well that's it," Vin sighed in with a little disappointment. He was mildly attracted to the beautiful, sultry woman and would not have mind entertaining the notion of a brief dalliance. "I'm crushed."

Chris chuckled and remained silent, knowing the truth but made no effort to disclose it.

"Inez," Josiah shook his head, unable to believe some one as level headed as Inez would fall for such a rascally womanizer. She seemed to be the last woman who would fall to such charms. "Are you telling me you have managed to curb the rampant impulses of this connoisseur of women?"

"Oh please!" Inez exclaimed with a frown. "I'm just a bartender you know, not a miracle worker. Short of gelding, nothing could do that." She winked at Buck  as more laughter ensued.

"Now wait a minute," Buck stood up, rising to meet the challenge. "I never cheated on you, not once!"

"Inez," Chris came to his friend's defense. "I'll have to side with him on this one. He was  _always_  faithful to you."

It was Mary who guessed it first by the reluctant body language being displayed by the duo what the truth was. "I'll be Kesselled, were you two married?"

"Yes." Both of them answered in unison.

"You were married to him!" Nathan laughed harder unable to imagine Buck Wilmington being married, let alone to some one like Inez who was no nonsense at the best of time and was one of the most level headed women he knew while Buck was the other extreme, a perennial rogue, just like his ship.

"We were young." Inez answered chagrined. "I liked the uniform."

"Well it was a little more than that." Buck gave her a devilish grin and earned an elbow in his stomach for his trouble. "Hey, you're not allowed to hit me any more. See why I left her?"

"You left me?" Inez whirled around and jabbed a finger in his chest. "I left you."

"Oh great," Chris rolled his eyes and faced his companions at the table. "You got them started."

"Yeah but they're not married  _any more_  right?" Vin wanted clarification on this while Buck and Inez continued on their 'discussion' on who left who.

"Subtle Vin," Josiah retorted with a grin. "Real subtle."

"Well she is a beautiful woman," the bounty hunter said out of earshot from the battling ex-spouses. "I'm just a marked man, not a dead one."

"Well the galaxy is full of surprises," the senator remarked raising his glass to his lips.

Chris was about to respond when suddenly, he saw a new arrival into the tavern and said instead. "Well brace yourself, there's another coming our way tonight."

The tavern went silent as the Imperial captain walked into the premises. Mary's eyes widened but Chris reached for her hand and told her with a look there was no danger here.  _Its all right_ , he said wordlessly in her mind and she believed. She felt the assurance pass through his finger tips into her skin like a warm glow washing over her and it was not an invasion, but a feeling of enlightenment as it was explained why this captain ought to be trusted. In a second, her trepidation dissipated and she met his gaze again, feeling a hot flush in her cheeks that made her remove her hand because his touch affected her more than she liked. Chris turned away quickly as well, feeling some thing in that exchange that was unexpected and was much for him to cope with at the moment.

Judging by the expression on her face, the feeling was mutual.

Fortunately, their little interplay went unnoticed since most of the table was preoccupied by the new arrival into the tavern. Buck and Inez immediately fell silent. Vin's lips curled into a little smile of pleasure seeing the captain, feeling trust already because of what they had been through together. Josiah and JD merely revealed their surprise but said nothing. The most animated reaction came from Nathan who looked over his shoulder at the entrance to see what had brought the room to a dead quiet so rapidly and found a pleasant surprise.

"Ezra!" Nathan rose to his feet in a matter of seconds and crossed the floor to his friend. They met in a warm embrace and Nathan never thought it could be so good to see his old friend in one piece, especially after how they had left each other at Imperial base. Nathan had spent a lot of time wondering whether or not Ezra had made it off the base alive.

"What are you doing here?" Nathan managed to ask once they had pulled away from their embrace.

"I am the new commander of the base here." Ezra announced as he walked towards the table.

"They promoted you?" Vin exclaimed with surprise, expecting the man to be placed in front of a firing squad after what he had done.

"Well posting to Cordoba is not exactly considered a promotion." Ezra remarked as he surveyed what was taking place at the table. "With the destruction of the base, any record of my involvement was more or less wiped clean. All they seemed to recall is that I opposed the lowering of the deflector shield in the initial attack."

"And Nabb?" Josiah asked, unable to hide the bitterness in his voice for the officer who had tortured him mercilessly.

"Is no longer among the living." Ezra replied softly. "The Empire has begun executing its officers for gross incompetence."

"By the Force." Mary whispered in horror. "He was killed?"

Ezra turned to her and realised whom he was talking to. "Yes, he was." He was rather taken back by how young and beautiful the Hero of Jofa looked. He expected an older person, certainly it would not be an unfair statement considering how she had resounding defeated the Imperial forces on Doldur by taking out a star destroyer with  _one_  lone fighter. "I take it you are Commander Travis?" He asked bowing slightly.

"I am." Mary nodded, trusting in Chris's faith this man was no danger to her. "Thank you for assistance in freeing my people," Mary said genuinely grateful.

Ezra cast a glance over the men and women at the table before resting his gaze on Nathan. "I told you at the base I was not ready to become a rebel. I still do not know if I am but I will help if you I can, if that is enough until I am ready to make that final journey."

"Its good to have you back Ezra," Nathan smiled, speaking on behalf of all of them and not caring even if he did not. If Ezra gave Nathan his word he would not harm them, then Nathan believed it because he had risked everything once already to save their lives. "I missed you."

"I have missed you too Nathan," Ezra grinned and a general feeling of ease swept through the faces at the table before he added. "May I join you?"

Chris Larabee smiled at the Imperial officer and pulled a chair from the nearest empty table with his mind for Ezra to sit. "I don't see why not, it looks like we're all here now."

And it was true, it  _did_  feel that way. Chris could sense it in the Force.

"Yeah, you might as well sit down and let Buck take your money too," Vin spoke up, finding it easier to invite this man into the circle and marveled at how suddenly, his world had become crammed with friends when he had been alone for so long. Perhaps, the reason he felt such a kinship with this Imperial Captain was because he sensed Ezra had been in the same position himself until now.

Nathan uttered a short laugh as Vin made that remark, perfectly aware just unlikely that was going to be. "Yeah right."

"What's so funny?" Buck looked at Nathan. "You're just mad you lost all your money."

Ezra looked at Nathan. who was trying to suppress his grin, and asked with a perfectly neutral expression. "The game I take it is sabbaac?"

"You play Ezra?" JD asked, noticing something in the way the two old friend were regarding each other about this particular subject.

"Oh," Ezra remarked with a grin as he sat down. "Just a _little_."

 

**THE END**


End file.
